Ranma 1. The Man Who Loved Shampoo part 1 of 2

Note: This fanfic is starred by Mousse and Shampoo, so all the dialogues are in Chinese.

Navel, master Shi Baoliang, Mei and Sei are my own characters, please don't use them without my permission.

Ranma ½ is a trademark of Viz communications, all the characters created and copyrighted to Rumiko Takahashi.

Okay, all this takes place after Hidden memories which could be considered as the prologue for this story; I do recommend you to read it first, although is not really necessary, and now, let us begin with...

**THE MAN WHO LOVED SHAMPOO**

PART 1 OF 2

BY

**DR FACER**

Pain, that was what he felt right now, his wings felt like if they were about to fall off, he knew he shouldn't have flown all the way from Tokyo to China, but considering his financial status, it wasn't like if he had had a lot of choices, Mousse looked down, he was now flying above Joketsuzoku, "At last!" He thought as he headed for his house, Mousse landed carefully on the roof of his house and after checking that no one was at home, he entered trough an open window and headed straight to the kitchen, a few moments later, a human Mousse exited the house and quickly ran to the forest, Mousse didn't want anyone to know about his return, so he ran until he was at a safe distance from his house, panting, Mousse pulled out a map, he needed to know the exact location of the place he was searching for, as he checked the route he had to follow, he cursed, he'd had to go trough the Musk dynasty territory, which meant dealing with Herb and his bodyguards, Mousse sighed, that was not a nice option, he checked the map again and found an alternate route, the path was harder, but a lot safer and shorter, the only potential danger in this alternate route were the burglars that predated over the weak travelers, fortunately, he was not a weak traveler, Mousse smiled and put the map back in his sleeves, ready to begin his real travel, "You just wait Shampoo, you just wait and you'll see what I'm capable of." He muttered and firmly walked north.

Back in Nerima, Shampoo was tired, without Mousse around, her work in the restaurant had suddenly doubled, amazing that big jerk had actually been good for something, Shampoo passed the last order to her great-grandmother and waited for the Ramen to be ready, at least there weren't that many customers at the moment, but by the evening, the dinner rush would be hell, Shampoo looked at her father, he was taking the orders of a couple, the young Amazon knew that he had been the most shocked when Mousse left, and she still didn't understand why, so she thought she should ask him, tonight if possible.

In China, Mousse was walking in a forest path, the route had been easy up until now, but soon he would have to start cutting his way trough the thick bamboo forests that surrounded the mountain he was heading for, if what he had heard about a mighty martial arts master living in the depths of the Bayankara mountains was true, then he would do anything in his possibilities to have that man accepting him as his student, Mousse smiled, that man was supposed to be the master of a deadly art that made you invincible, according to the stories not even the amazons or the members of the musk dynasty dared to defy him, and that was impressive, for a man to have the respect of the amazons was already a big achievement, but to have the respect of the musk dynasty as well was almost unbelievable, so Mousse was sure that if he dominated that art, he would be able to face Ranma in battle and manage the draw he so much needed, so he continued his way, wondering what kind of a man his soon to be master was, when a woman called him, the voice was familiar for Mousse, but he could not really identify the owner, so he turned and put his glasses back on, the young man stared the woman in front of him filled with surprise, how did she found out that he was in China?

"You!" Mousse shouted, "How come you knew about my return?"

The young, green haired woman smiled, "I saw you flying above my house! I just had to come and say hello!"

Mousse was startled, "You…saw…me?"

The girl nodded, "Yes I did! It was luck actually, I was checking a nest some doves made on the roof of my house when I looked to the sky and saw you flying towards your house!"

"Yeah, luck." Mousse said and started to leave, "It was nice to see you Navel, but I really have to go, good bye."

"Wait Mousse! You can't leave just like that!" Navel shouted and crushed Mousse with a huge boulder.

"Well, if you put it that way, I think I have some time for you." He answered as he crawled out of the rubble, "What do you want Navel?"

Once Mousse was up, Navel immediately jumped away, "Mousse!" She shouted and pulled a sword out, "I challenge you!"

"Hey, I knew that was all you wanted Navel, I'm sorry, but I have no time for this." Mousse said and began to walk away.

"Are you dumping me, pretty boy?" Navel thought, "I'll show you to dump me you big jerk!" She grinned and dashed towards Mousse, her sword at the ready.

"Wha…?" Mousse mumbled when he noticed that Navel was attacking him, he quickly turned, but …

"HIIYAA!"

CLOONG!!

Seconds later, only Mousse stood there, unscratched, watching the unconscious girl at his feet, he tossed the iron mace he used to knock Navel out and erased himself from the place as fast as he could, if he was lucky, he should be able to get far away enough before his life became a lot more complicated than what already was.

"God! What was I thinking? I fell in Navel's trap like a stupid beginner! Now that I've defeated her, she'll start chasing me all over the world trying to marry me!" He thought as he increased his speed, right now, it was imperative that he could put as much distance as possible between him and Navel, or else, he risked fighting Navel's great-grandmother, and that wasn't something in Mousse's to do list of this millennium, so, he ran.

Meanwhile, in the place where the short fight between Mousse and Navel took place, a couple of identical twins jumped out of the bushes surrounding the path, one of them was holding a camera.

"Did you got the pictures, over?" Asked one of the girls to the one who was carrying the camera.

"Yes, a whole lot!"

"Great, let's then help the boss."

"Right! Over."

The two girls, better known as the herbalists Pink and Link from Yaocaicun, kneeled next to Navel, "Hey boss, are you okay?" Pink asked, but Navel didn't move.

"I think Mousse hit her very hard, over." Link answered.

"You know, amazons have the weirdest love concept I've ever seen." Pink said, pouring some rose petals tea on her sister's cup.

"Yes, you're right Pink, over." Link agreed, pulling a table and some cookies from hammer space.

"I wonder why is Navel so interested in Mousse?" Link asked and took a bit from a cracker.

"No idea, but she sure pays well for our help, over." Pink answered and drank a sip of her cup.

Navel opened her eyes and moaned, she watched her two 'assistants' and frowned, how dared they! Drinking tea and eating crackers when she was wounded! "HEY YOU TWO, I WONDER WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO START HELPING ME HERE!!" Navel shouted as she got up, she dusted herself, and began searching for the suddenly missing twins, she found them hiding behind a rock at least five yards away.

"The boss sure has a talent to scream, over, she scared the hell out of me!" Pink said.

"Yeah, I felt the same! Over." Link answered.

Navel sweat dropped and bonked both twins' heads, "What are you doing!?"

"Nothing boss, over!" the twins answered at the same time.

"Aaargh! Stop talking like a walkie talkie already, will you!?"

"But we're not talking like a walkie talkie boss, over."

Navel shook her head, "I give up, you two are helpless!" She said, "Did you got the pictures?"

"Yes we did! Over." Pink said

"A whole roll of film! Over." Link finished.

"Good, now go and have the film developed, I'll wait for you in the Joketsuzoku monthly's offices."

"Yes boss, over!" The twins shouted and quickly headed to Yaocaicun.

Navel laughed. "Now he's mine Shampoo! And soon, you won't be able to do anything about it!" She shouted and laughed again.

Shampoo closed the Neko Hanten doors and sighed, today had been a very busy day and tomorrow would be worse, Ukyo caught a cold a few days ago and had closed her restaurant for the week, and so all of her customers had instead come to the Neko Hanten. Yes, it meant more money for her restaurant, but it also meant more work for her, and without Mousse here, all that work would have to be done by herself, after all, her father wasn't that good of a waiter, and her great-grandmother had made clear that she would never be a waitress, (the true was that Cologne knew her great-granddaughter attracted lots of male customers, and Mousse also had attracted a few girls from time to time, so, what right did she had to ruin the young customers illusions?), Shampoo entered the kitchen and saw her father, she had to talk to him, he had been acting weird since Mousse left and she was intrigued, very intrigued indeed.

"Father, are you OK?" Shampoo asked.

The man smiled when he heard the voice of his daughter, "Of course my girl! I'm feeling fine!"

"I don't think so father. You've been acting very strange since Mousse left."

"Have I really?" He joked.

"Yes father, you have, and I want to know why." Shampoo said seriously.

"There's nothing to say daughter." The man answered with a very concerned look, "Now please, leave your father alone."

Shampoo was startled, her father never denied anything to her, but this, what was so special that he couldn't tell her? She had to know, it was her right as an Amazon to be answered by any other man of the village, even if the man was her own father.

"Father, you know you have to tell me, it is written in the laws of Joketsuzoku."

"We're not in Joketsuzoku right now child, so I won't tell you."

The young Amazon took a depth breath and then exhaled, fine, if asking nicely didn't work, she would have to blackmail her father, "Father, you better tell me, or perhaps you want me to tell great-grandmother?"

The man sweated cold, "Are you blackmailing your own father?"

"Just a little."

Shampoo's father took a seat and invited his daughter to join him, "Fine, I'll tell you, but be aware that you probably won't like what you're about to hear."

The young Amazon smiled, "I'm not a little girl dad, if its bad, I'm sure I can handle it."

The man relaxed in his chair and lighted a cigarette, then, when he had smoked almost half of it, he spoke, "Shampoo, you love that Ranma boy a lot, right?"

"Yes, I love him very much." Shampoo answered and sneezed, that new brand of cigarettes her father was smoking right now smelled quite bad.

"I knew it, but I needed to hear it from you, since you and me hardly ever speak to each other, well, I had doubts about your feelings for him."

"Was that the reason why you were acting strange?"

"No, it was something else." The man paused, "Shampoo, how do you feel about Mousse?"

Shampoo blinked, not really understanding why was his father asking her that, "What?"

The man went to the freezer and grabbed a bottle of soda, "You know, I really like that boy, Mousse I mean, I think he would be a great husband."

"What?" Shampoo asked again, "Excuse me dad, but are you sure you're not sick?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Now answer me, how do you feel about him, do you really hate him?"

Shampoo lowered her eyes and for a moment, she was afraid of answering, "I..." She stopped, searching for the proper words to describe what she felt for Mousse, "I don't hate him, he's…he is my best friend, but he doesn't seem to understand it!"

The man opened the bottle and emptied it in one go, he threw it to the garbage can and then he spoke, "It's not that he's not understanding you daughter, it's you who is making him believe that he has a chance."

"That's a lie!"

"No, it's not, Shampoo, you may fool yourself, but you can't fool me or your great-grandmother."

"What are you talking about?"

"I have seen you with Mousse, I know he can be a pest, but for most of the time you two get along quite well, and you do smile to him more than what you might think."

"Shampoo never do that!" She said in her broken Japanese, "Shampoo only love Ranma!"

The man smiled, Shampoo was nervous, that was the only reason why she switched to Japanese, he had hit a sensible spot there, it made him feel guilty, but nobody said that being a father was easy. Besides, he wanted her daughter to be happy, and for that, he had to help Shampoo face her feelings, "I'm not saying that you love him, all I'm saying is that you do seem to feel something for him, something that's more than friendship maybe?" He answered still in Chinese.

"NO!! Shampoo no care about Mousse! Shampoo never cares for him!" She shouted rising from her chair, "Shampoo love and care for Ranma!"

"But what about him? Does he love you too, daughter?"

"Shampoo no answer that question!!" The blue haired girl angrily answered and exited the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.

The man noticed his cigarette had burned all out by itself and sighing he lighted up another one, "Yes, it's hard to be a father, pretty hard."

"Are you sure this is for the best?"

Shampoo's father turned to the small window to his right, "Cologne."

The old Amazon jumped inside the kitchen and sat in front of her son in law, "I still don't know how I let you convince me."

"It's just because you too want Shampoo's happiness." The man said smiling.

"Maybe, but I'm still not sure, Ranma would be a great addition to our village."

"Yes, the only problem is that he doesn't want to marry my daughter, and I don't want him to hurt my Shampoo anymore!"

"And I assume that's why you think Mousse would be an adequate husband all of a sudden?" Cologne asked.

"No, I have liked that kid since I met him, maybe I like his stubbornness, reminds me of myself I guess."

Cologne Smiled, "Yes, you were very stubborn, fighting Shampoo's mother three hundred times before defeating her is a proof of that."

"See why I like the boy that much? He never gives up, I'm sure he'll draw with Saotome next time they fight! He won't fail I know it!"

"He'd better not." Cologne said seriously, "If I'm going to accept him as a part of our family, he better not."

"Don't worry, I'm sure the kid will do it." Shampoo's father said as he exited the kitchen, leaving Cologne alone.

"What's this?" Cologne wondered while examining one of the cigarettes her son in law had been smoking, that particular cigarette was black, and it smelled different to the brand Shampoo's father usually smoked. Cologne frowned in frustration when she recognized what she was smelling, the cigarette was made of the plant of the true heart, the smoke that plant emitted when burned was harmless for adults, but even a small dose caused hallucinations in kids and teenagers, forcing them face things they had buried deep in their hearts, "A dirty trick son in law, a very dirty trick indeed." Cologne said and bounced out of the kitchen, "I'll better keep an eye on Shampoo; the hallucinations could make her react violently."

"Damn!" Mousse thought, "This stinking Bamboo forest is thicker than I first thought! At this rate I'll never cross it!" The young man stopped, it was late already and he was exhausted, he wanted to reach the master's house this same day, but now it was impossible. After chopping down bamboo all day, his energy had been completely drained.

"Well, I guess I'll sleep here today." Mousse set up a fire and started heating some water for his instant Ramen, he was tired, but he still was hungry, when his dinner was ready and he was about to start eating, he heard something, a shy sound behind him, "A tiger?" Mousse asked himself, tigers were very rare in this area, but what else could it be? Monkeys?

"I'll better check it out" He thought and slowly walked to were the sound was coming from, when he was at leas two feet away, the noise stopped, Mousse held his breath and slowly approached the bushes, he reached for the cold leaves and slowly moved them aside…

"SURPRISE!!" A red and green blur shouted as it jumped above Mousse's head, knocking him down in the process.

"Hey!" Mousse shouted as he got up, but then, a munching sound made him sweat, he slowly turned to his small camp, and he saw that a kid wearing a large, red hood, probably six or seven years old was eating his ramen! His last Ramen!

SLURP! MUNCH! GULP!

"Boy that was good!" The little brat shouted when he finished what should have been Mousse's dinner, the kid noticed Mousse was staring at him, he smiled and asked the young man, "Hey mister, don't you have more Ramen? I'm still hungry!"

"You…you cursed brat!! That was the last of my food!!" Mousse screamed, "What am I supposed to eat now!!"

"Not my problem, see you later!" The kid said and slowly headed to the forest.

"No way kid! you're not getting away!" Mousse exclaimed and threw his chains, tying the kid before he escaped, "All right kiddo, you're mine now."

Mousse grabbed the kid and with a quick move, he soon had him hanging upside down from a tree, "Now kid, who in the hell are you to come here and steal my food!?"

The kid's eyes filled with tears, "But I was so hungry mister! My big brother and I haven't eaten in days!"

"Brother?"

"Yes! He's a strong martial artist and if you don't let me go he'll kick your ass real good!"

Mousse grinned, "Yeah right, I bet he will."

"I mean it! He really is strong! And he'll punish you when he finds about this!" The kid said while he struggled, trying to escape.

"We'll see about that tomorrow boy." Mousse said and walked to the small camp he'd set up sooner.

"You!" A man's voice called, "How dare you treat my sister like that!"

Mousse turned and saw what looked like a young man like himself, who also wore red and green Chinese clothes "Sister? You mean this boy is really a girl?"

The newcomer sweat dropped, "You didn't know?"

"No I didn't, but in that case, I'll let her go." Mousse untied the girl and let her down on the floor, "There girl, you're all set, now let's see what your brother has to say about what you did."

"Brother, help me! This guy's a pervert! He said dirty things to me!" The girl shouted and ran to her brother's arms.

"Is that true stranger?"

"OF COURSE NOT!! Your sister is lying!" Mousse argued.

The girl's brother stared coldly at Mousse, "I don't believe you, you do have the face of a pervert! Prepare to be punished!" He said adopting a fighting stance Mousse had never seen before.

"Hey wait, there's no need for this!" Mousse said.

"Shut up, you pervert! I'll teach you hang girls upside down!" The mysterious boy shouted and charged, throwing loads of punches to Mousse at a very high speed.

Mousse dodged all of the blows, he had already faced Ranma's amaguriken and this punches, while fast, were nothing near the speed Saotome's punches could reach, in fact, for Mousse it was as if this boy was moving in slow motion. He smiled, the guy was good, but not good enough, and taking advantage of a pretty obvious opening in his adversary's defense, Mousse kneed his opponent's jaw, sending him crashing in a near tree, "Now, will you calm down and listen?" He asked.

"Never! I'll never admit defeat from a pervert like you!" The boy said, shaking his head to fight dizziness, "You are a strong fighter, but I'm not defeated yet!" He shouted, taking out a water canteen.

"What's he doing?" Mousse thought, "A water canteen? Could it be that he was Jusenkyo cursed too?" That was bad, if he was cursed and willing to use his cursed form in a fight, that could mean only one thing, it meant that this guy didn't turn into a silly rabbit! Mousse threw a knife to break the canteen but he did it to late, the knife did broke the canteen, but the boy had already splashed himself with cold water…

GROOOAAARRR!!

Mousse was paralyzed, his adversary had turned himself into a freaking, enormous, white tiger!! This was not good, a normal tiger was dangerous, but a tiger with a human mind was ten times worse. As he circled the huge feline, trying to find a way to knock him out fast, Mousse searched for his trusty hen inside his sleeves, he hadn't use it in months, but he expected that this plan would work.

In Joketsuzoku, Navel was smiling with joy, in her hands she had the first copy of next month's Joketsuzoku monthly, and its contents couldn't be more perfect, in the front page was a picture of her being defeated by Mousse, and the article described how Mousse had won their fight, an interview with the witnesses of the duel Pink and Link was also included, not to mention a full review of the wedding Navel's family was planning, and bios of her and Mousse were in the social pages, they even put some file pictures the newspaper had! And finally, an article Navel wrote herself, explaining how Mousse finally realized that chasing Shampoo was a waste of time and how he had challenged her to a battle he barely won.

"Yes! This will do fine, I wonder what will Shampoo do when she reads all this? Will she come back?" She asked to the mirror in her room, "I don't think so, Pink and Link told me she was all over that weird boy, what was his name? Lan-ma? Oh, who cares! Mousse is mine and that's all that matters!" She said and turned off the lights of her bedroom, and when she covered her body with her sheets, she smiled, for this time, she had won, and Shampoo couldn't do anything about it.

Shampoo couldn't sleep, a strange feeling had been bothering her the last few hours, she got up and opened the window of her bedroom, maybe a little fresh air could help her get rid of the feeling. Through the open window, Shampoo gazed at the stars and suddenly found herself thinking about Mousse again, she hated it, she had been thinking about him more and more since he left, she hadn't told that to her dad, as if it wasn't bad enough that her father thought Mousse would be a good husband for her, Mousse was stupid, the only one for her was Ranma, he was the man who had defeated her and…

"You can fool yourself, but not me." Her father's voice resounded in her mind, Shampoo shook her head to dissipate the thought, what had been that?

"You know it better than no one else Shampoo, how long will you hold on to a lie?" This time, the voice that echoed in her mind was not her father's, it was her own!

"We love him, that's true, but he doesn't love us, he probably thinks we're a nuisance, a girl with no honor." This time Shampoo had to close her eyes and grit her teeth firmly to shut the voice in her mind, she couldn't accept that, Ranma would love her one day, he will realize she was the best one, not Akane, Ukyo or Kodachi, she was the best for him! She could be both a warrior and a housewife, and that was something none of her competitors could do, Akane would never be a proper wife, Ukyo was too tomboyish for her own good, and Kodachi, well, Kodachi was a maniac, and still, Ranma never really noticed how perfect for him she was, he always ran away from her babbling excuses, he never cared about the way she always expressed her love for him, he never hugged her back, he just ignored her when she was only trying to win his affection.

"See? You admit it, he doesn't love us, we're little more than a friend for him, shouldn't we go back to our real home?" The voice said again, using a tone that teased Shampoo's soul.

"SHUT UP!! Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutup!!" Shampoo thought, "I don't want to hear you, shut up!"

"I won't, you have to face this; you have to face what you already know in your heart!"

"I don't want to!" Shampoo whispered and she kneeled besides the window, hiding her face in her hands, "I can't face it, I can't do it!"

"Yes you can! If you can live with a lie, then you can face the truth!" The voice said.

"NO! I won't listen to you anymore! You're hurting me!"

"You are hurting yourself, is it so hard to give up on him?"

"I can't give up on him! Ranma is the man I have loved the most! I even love him more than….." Shampoo stopped, she noticed her hands were wet with tears, she dried them in her nightgown, she closed her eyes, and then she pleaded, "Please, please leave me alone, I can't take this anymore, it hurts so much to admit it, please go away…"

"How can you beg your own essence to stop? You have to embrace her, it's the best for you!" The voice replied, this time, the voice sounded a lot like her mother.

"Mo...mother? Is it you?"

"Yes it is me my child." the voice said.

Shampoo opened her eyes and saw her mother standing next to her, "I miss you mother; I want to be with you again, I want to be in Joketsuzoku again, I want to stop all this nonsense, but I can't."

"Yes you can Shampoo, you can do anything you want."

"No I can't, I'm useless mother, I'm lonely, I'm not happy, and I can't even get what I want! Then how will I stop all this?"

The voice remained silent.

"Mother?" Shampoo asked, fearing that even her mother would abandon her, "Mother!"

"You can do it Shampoo, when you let the feelings you have so long repressed to come out, when you have the courage to admit what you know is correct, then you will be able to finish with this that so much suffering has caused you, I only pray that you do it soon, or else, it will be to late." Then, her mother kneeled besides her and kissed her forehead, fading little by little as she did so, until it completely disappeared, leaving Shampoo alone, crying in front of her window.

Shampoo wiped her tears and smiled, "Thank you mother, I won't disappoint you, I promise." She whispered and then, she fainted.

The tiger was moving towards Mousse slowly, its head almost touching the floor, but its eyes set firmly in its prey, the beast lowered its body and Mousse knew the tiger was about to jump at him, probably aiming for his throat. Mousse gasped, he had three eggs in his right hand, which was still hiding in his sleeve, he planned to stuck the eggs in the animal's mouth hoping for the smoke to confuse it, but his aim had to be perfect, if he failed, there would be blood, most certainly his blood.

The tiger growled and jumped, its eyes, claws and fangs shined in the dim light provided by the fire Mousse had set up earlier, Mousse set his feet firmly on the ground and smiled, the tiger had his jaws wide open, just what he wanted, "Eat this cat!!" Mousse shouted and with a quick move of his right arm, three little black eggs were thrown straight to the tiger's mouth, exploding inside the animals throat, the beast landed poorly where Mousse had been standing just a fraction of a second before, smoke coming out of its mouth, the tiger was disoriented, its throat and eyes were sore.

"Brother look out! He's coming from your left!" The little girl who had been only watching the fight shouted, the tiger tried to move out of the way but it was too late, Mousse slammed a giant steel hammer in the tiger's left flank, which knocked out the beast immediately.

"Ha! That was easy!" Mousse said, "I thought that someone who could transform into a tiger would be a better opponent."

"You killed him!" The little girl shouted, kneeling besides the unconscious tiger.

"Of course not, he's just going to sleep for a while."

"Really?"

"I didn't have any reason to kill him, now, let's use some hot water to turn your brother back into a human, I want to ask him something." Mousse said and went to the fire, picking up a kettle filled with hot water.

"Do you know about Jusenkyo too?" The girl asked.

"Yes, I do." Mousse answered as he poured the hot water on the tiger's head.

"AAAHH! That was very hot you idiot!!" The now not so unconscious tiger-boy shouted.

Mousse smiled, "You shouldn't complain, you lost the fight remember?"

"But you cheated!" The boy argued and jumped back on his feet.

Mousse smiled again and pointed down, "And you call me pervert? Jumping around naked in front of your little sister, who's the pervert, huh?"

"GAAH!!" The boy shouted and jumped behind a tree, "You enjoy embarrassing me in front of my sister!?"

"You're the one who did it all!" Mousse replied, "Here." He said and threw a blanket to the tiger-boy.

Five minutes later, all had been explained, the tiger-boy forced his sister to apologize to Mousse and the three were now chatting around the fire, "By the way, I'm Mousse, what's your name?" Mousse asked to the siblings.

"I'm Mei Baoliang!" The girl said.

"And I am Sei Baoliang, we are the inheritors of the Baoliang School of martial arts, not-blind style."

"Baoliang? Not-blind style? I've never heard of that school."

"Of course not, it's a family secret!" Mei said.

"But you're the only one who had ever defeated me." Sei sadly commented.

"Grandpa will be very angry at us." Mei announced.

"Don't tell me about it Mei." Sei said, "Anyway, we have to go, say good bye Mei."

Mei apologized again to Mousse and bowed, then she ran to catch up with her brother, who was already walking away, "Mousse, you owe me another fight, don't forget it!" Sei shouted before he and his sister disappeared into the bamboo forest.

"Shampoo!!"

Cologne rushed inside her great-granddaughter's bedroom, she had come to check on Shampoo, fearing that the hallucinations caused by the smoke of the true heart plant would be too much for Shampoo when she heard a loud crash. Now inside Shampoo's room, Cologne was kneeling besides the blue haired girl. Shampoo was in a deep slumber, and her face showed no discomfort, the crash Cologne had heard had been caused by a ceramic pot Shampoo had in her drawer, apparently, Shampoo hit the drawer with her body and that caused the pot to fall, fortunately, Shampoo wasn't hurt. Cologne struggled a little with the girl before she could put her in her bed, then as she picked up the pieces of the broken pot, Cologne found something, it was a small envelope, obviously it was inside the pot, the envelope was folded so you couldn't see what it was written on it.

The elder Amazon opened the small envelope and pulled out a piece of old rugged paper, she unfolded it and found a message, more than that, an invitation, and judging by the writing, the sender had been Mousse. Cologne read the letter, it was an invitation to Joketsuzoku's annual festival from almost four years ago, Cologne remembered that she had missed that festival, she had been visiting Yaocaicun's elders at the time, but this letter, she knew it was special, Why? The old Amazon noticed a short note written at the end of the letter, it was Shampoo's writing, the note said:

I'm so confused, my heart is still beating so fast of excitement. I do wish all have ended today between Mousse and I don't I? We were so close! Why did those stupid twins had to show up just then? Now I'll never know what it feels to

The note ended there, obviously something had interrupted Shampoo, and she had never tried to finish it again, but why did she wrote the note here, Shampoo had a diary.

"A diary I use to read from time to time." Cologne thought, she did peeked Shampoo's diary, but it was only so she could know how to help her little girl in case something were wrong, but this note, it proved her that Shampoo knew about her reading her diary, that was why she wrote that note here wasn't it?

Anyway, what was Shampoo talking about? Excitement? and what was that thing about the twins? The only twins there at the time were Ran-Ran and Lin-Lin. This was a mystery, but it was one that Shampoo had choose to hide from her, so she would respect her great-granddaughter wish, this secret will remain untouched by her, Cologne sighed, she hated not to know everything about Shampoo, but her little girl was now a woman and she had to let her go. Cologne slowly put the letter back in its envelope and placed it in the middle of the broken pot pieces, she gave Shampoo a last glance, and then, she left the room, hopefully Shampoo would never now she had been there.

Mousse stretched himself out, miraculously, he had had a good night of sleep, but his stomach was still claiming for food.

"Just my luck, now that I have no food, I'll have to hunt for something to eat." Mousse said as he picked up his camp, readying himself for the next part of his travel, he was so busy that he didn't notice the shadow that was watching him.

"Wake up Pink! He's moving!" Link said.

"…Uh?…He's moving already?"

"Yes he is! Hurry up, over!" Link scolded and dragged her sister out of her futon.

"All right, all right! You don't have to drag me like that! Over."

"Then move!"

Minutes later, Pink and Link were following Mousse from a prudent distance, they didn't want to fight with him. It wasn't their work after all, they were paid only to track him down and report his final destination to Navel, which had proven to be a very easy task, since Mousse was not expecting anyone to follow him, "Hey Link! Remember that fight Mousse had last night? Over."

"Yes I do, over, it was pretty scary, over."

"Of course it was! Over, that tiger-boy was really something! Over."

"I hope we won't met him again, over."

"Uh? Where's Mousse? Over." Link asked.

The twins looked around, somehow Mousse had disappeared, "EEEK! We have to find him fast! Over." Pink shouted, "The boss will hit us if we loose him! Over"

"You're right, and when the boss is mad, she's even worst than Shampoo! Over."

"Look he's there! Over." Pink shouted and pointed to a near cliff.

"And how the hell did he got there so fast!? Over."

"Who cares! Over, we've got to catch up with him before we lose him! Over."

Pink and Link nodded to each other and ran towards the cliff, they had to see were Mousse was going to, if they failed, Navel would be angry, and that was something both twins wanted to avoid at all costs.

Mousse finally reached the top of the cliff he was climbing, he looked down and sighed. He wiped away the sweat and began to walk again, too bad he wasn't wearing his glasses, or else, he would have seen that two girls were slowly climbing the cliff, following him.

Mousse put his glasses back on and checked his map, he was now only a few miles away from his destiny, the Kai-Yuang valley, in the middle of the Bayankara Mountains, he smiled and after putting the map back on his sleeves, Mousse increased his speed. With luck, he would be able to arrive there before noon, and the sooner he started training with the mysterious teacher, the better.

"Hey, were is he?" Pink asked, she had been the first of the twins to reach the peak of the cliff, but Mousse was nowhere near. Pink sweat dropped when she realized Mousse was already pretty far from them.

"Oh, damn! Is he out of reach again!? Over." Link complained.

"He's over there. Over." Pink answered, pointing to the horizon.

Link stared to where her sister pointed, her eyes about to shed gallons of tears, "That's not fair! Over, we've worked so hard and that jerk just keep letting us behind! Over."

"We should quit, over." Pink said.

"You want to face Navel's wrath? Over." Link answered.

Pink paled, "No thank you! Over."

"Then we have to continue, let's go! Over." Link said.

"Yeah, let's go." Pink answered and both twins forced themselves to run in the same direction Mousse had gone.

Shampoo was training, she hadn't trained properly since she came to Japan, and she was losing shape, she needed to be at her best if she was going to accomplish her plan, she had devised it last night in her dreams, somehow the idea just popped in her mind, like if it had been there for weeks just waiting for the adequate moment to show up, she will not only fix her situation with Ranma, she would also make up for him for all the times she had caused him trouble, she was, after all, the only one that could do it. She would face Ukyo and Kodachi in combat, Ranma being the prize for the winner, and for Akane, Shampoo sighed, she was the only one she couldn't hurt, but that was only a momentary problem. She would think about something, she always did.

"Shampoo! We have lots of customers, stop doing that and come back here!" Cologne ordered.

"Coming!" Shampoo answered, she hated to stop her training, but she couldn't defy her great-grandmother, especially since she had been checking on her all day. Shampoo wondered if that was somehow connected with her favorite ceramic pot being broken this morning? Shampoo hoped not, she had hidden the envelope again, but what if Cologne had read it? That would be disaster, and as the young Amazon entered the restaurant area, she decided not to think about it, but still, the doubt lurked on her mind for the rest of the day.

After running almost the whole day, Mousse finally arrived to the Kai-Yuang valley, but as he examined the place he got filled with despair. Nothing was there, not a house, not anyone, just a large, rectangular valley circled by a tall wall of rocks in three of its sides, with grass covering all of it, a stupid stream crossing the far left end of it, and a huge cave.

No, Mousse stopped for a minute, there was a faint smell coming out of the cave, Mousse analyzed the smell, was it Miso soup? Yes it was Miso! Someone was cooking it inside the cave! Mousse walked there slowly, if the one who was cooking the soup was the master he was searching for, he didn't want to interrupt him in the middle of his dinner so…

"Who are you?" An unknown male voice asked.

Mousse turned, scared of the man behind him, Mousse couldn't see him very well because he wasn't wearing his glasses, but still, he hadn't hear him approach and that was nearly impossible!

"I asked you a question! Answer me!" The man demanded.

"I…I am Mousse sir, from Joketsuzoku, The Amazon village." Mousse managed to say.

"I have no business with you or your village, go away!"

"But sir, I'm looking for someone."

"And who is that person you're looking for?"

"He's a great martial artist, and I want to be his student." Mousse answered.

"Is that so…"

"Hey grandpa! The Miso is ready!"

Mousse turned towards the cave, "Mei? What are you doing here?"

The girl blinked in surprise, but then she smiled, "Hey Mousse, hello! Did you came to visit us?"

Mousse sweat dropped, and pointed the man behind him, "Is he your grandfather Mei?"

"Yes he is, why?"

"Mei, what's taking you so long! Call grandpa! the soup is getting co…" Sei blinked just as his sister did and then he added, "Mousse! What do you want here! Did you came to fight me one more time?"

Sei! Is this the man who defeated you?" The man who was still behind Mousse asked.

Sei kneeled and bowed, "Yes grandpa, I apologize again, but if you let me I shall fix that mistake right now!"

The man smiled, "Don't bother Sei, I the great master Shi Baoliang will fix that myself." Then, the man turned to face Mousse, "You! You said you wanted to be my student, didn't you?"

Mousse gulped, he was sure now that Sei and Mei's grandfather was the master he had been looking for, and since he defeated Sei, he had insulted his family honor, which could only mean that he would challenge him.

"Answer me! Did you wanted to be my student or not?"

"Yes, yes I want to be your student!"

"But you defeated my grandson in a fight, and he is my best student."

"I'm sorry." Mousse said.

"I heard that you defeated him even in his tiger form, is that true?"

"Yes I did."

"Excellent! I have a deal for you, do you want to hear it?"

Mousse nodded, "Yes."

"Good, now listen, since you defeated Sei, that means that you are very strong already, are you not?"

"I guess I am." Mousse answered.

"Fine, look boy, I'm not taking students right now, but I'm willing to do an exception in your case. All you have to do is fight me, and if I think you're good enough, I'll let you be my disciple, deal?"

Mousse smiled, "Deal! But I warn you, I won't hold back!"

"Neither will I, are you ready?"

"Anytime you want."

"All right then, HAVE AT YOU!" the man shouted and jumped towards Mousse….

_To be concluded…_

Well this is it for now, it seems Mousse is in a tight spot, yes I know he had to fight a lot in this chapter, but it was necessary for the plot, now for the conclusion, We'll see more about Shampoo, and how her plan will unfold, we will also see her reaction when she reads a special edition of a certain newspaper from a certain Amazon village, and Navel will have to go to Japan! Oh yes, I forgot, we'll also see the outcome of the battle between Mousse and master Shi, but I believe you're already guessing don't you? OK, see you on part two!

Facer.


	2. The Man Who Loved Shampoo part 2 of 2

Notes: This is a fanfic starred by Mousse and Shampoo; so most of the dialogues  
are in Chinese.

Navel, Master Shi Baoliang, Sei and Mei are my own characters, please  
don't use them without my permission.

Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Viz communications, all characters created  
and copyrighted to Rumiko Takahashi,

What has happened so far: Mousse went to China to train. There, he got  
accidentally engaged to Navel, and old acquaintance of him and Shampoo.  
Meanwhile, in Japan, Shampoo is still trying to get Ranma all for  
herself...

**THE MAN WHO LOVED SHAMPOO  
**PART 2 OF 2  
BY  
**DR FACER**

"So?" Navel asked, "Is this all you got?"  
"Of course not boss! Over!" Pink answered.  
"We saw a lot more than that! Over!" Link added.  
"Well, then tell me!"  
"Okay boss, after we followed Mousse to the Kai-Yuang Valley..." Link  
stated.  
"We hid behind a rock and took a few pictures, over." Pink finished.  
"Do you want to see the pictures boss? Over." Pink said.  
"Yeah, show them to me." Navel said and leaned back on her chair.  
"Here they are, over!" Link announced.  
Navel spent a few minutes checking all the pictures and when she found a  
series of pictures showing Mousse fighting with a strange old man  
wearing a black robe and wielding a staff, she turned to Pink and Link,  
"Who is that man?"  
"We don't know his name, over." Link said.  
"But we know he's going to train Mousse! Over!" Pink quickly said so  
Navel wouldn't get angry.  
"I see." Navel said as she continued studying the pictures when she  
noticed something strange about the old man Mousse was fighting with,  
"Pink, Link, what's this?" She asked pointing to the head of the old man  
in the picture.  
"Oh, that, we don't know for sure boss, over." Both twins answered.  
"But, look at his moves!" Navel said as she pointed at Shi's picture  
again, "How can possibly a man do all these different attacks with his  
eyes folded?"  
"Maybe he's blind? Over?" Link shyly asked.  
"Yeah, maybe." Navel answered not looking at the twins, "So, who won?"  
She asked, "I don't see a picture of the end of the fight here."  
"The old man won, over." Pink informed, "But just barely, over."  
"Really? And you say he's going to train my Mousse?"  
"Yes, that we heard, over." Link answered.  
"And this valley, you said is the Kai-Yuang valley, right?" Navel wanted  
to know.  
"Yes boss, why? Over." Pink asked.  
"Strange, I thought nobody lived there." Navel said, "Anyway, you two  
come with me, we have to go there."  
"To... Kai-Yuang? Over?" The twins asked.  
"Yes, is there a problem with that?  
Pink and Link both gulped, "Yes boss, there's something wrong, over."  
"What?"  
"The tiger boy! He's there! Over!" Pink complained.  
"He's very scary! Over!" Link finished.  
"So? You told me that Mousse kicked his ass, didn't you?"  
"Yes, but we don't want to see him again! Over!" The twins answered.  
"All right, I'll go there by myself. You two stay here and wait for my  
return, got it?" Navel said as she rose from her chair and walked out of  
the twin's house, leaving them perplexed at her rather nice attitude.  
Navel smiled, it was good to be nice to Pink and Link from time to time.  
That way, the twins would stay loyal to her. The young amazon reached  
Yaocaicun's exit and headed for her house in Joketsuzoku. She had to  
pack some things if she really was going to Kai-Yuang valley, and as she  
walked the short distance that separated both towns, she wondered why  
Mousse decided to train all of a sudden, and trying to figure that out,  
she reached her house and finally, she forgot about it. She was going to  
see Mousse, so that was secondary for the time being.

At the same time, in the Kai-Yuang valley, Mousse was trying to catch  
Mei with his eyes folded. This was his third day training like this and  
he was starting to get used to it thanks to his other senses, which were  
way above average. Mousse was not that dependent on his sight, but  
still, his first day had been very hard. But by now, Mousse was able to  
pinpoint the location of several people in a radius of a few meters  
around him based on things such as the noise made by the people's steps  
or breath, or in other cases, by the target's smell.  
"Hey Mousse! I'm over here!" Mei shouted and dashed by Mousse's side  
laughing.  
"I'll get you!" Mousse warned and ran behind the girl, just to trip a  
few steps after with a rock.  
"Are you all right Mousse?" Mei asked and hurried to help Mousse up.  
"Yes I'm fine. Damn! I forgot that stone was there." He said sadly.  
"Mousse! Come here!" A man's voice demanded.  
"Coming master." Mousse answered and walked to his teacher, "What can I  
do?"  
BASH !  
"Ouch! What was that for?" the young man asked rubbing his head in the  
spot his master's staff had just hit him.  
"For tripping." Shi said, "How do you expect to improve if you can't  
even memorize this simple landscape?"  
"But..."  
"Be quiet boy!" Shi ordered, "There's no excuse for your mistakes, you  
should have known that rock was there!"  
"But master! How do you expect me to do this with my eyes folded?"  
Mousse asked, "I don't depend that much on them, but still, training  
like this is ridiculous!"  
"Of course is not!" The old master answered, "You have the talent to  
take this training, you're just not trying hard enough! Now, follow me,  
I know of a way that will help you master the basics of my blind style  
much faster." Shi said and grabbing Mousse's arm he dragged him inside  
his cave.  
"He's gonna give him the cave training? You think he will make it?" Sei  
asked his sister after he jumped down of the tree he had been watching  
all from.  
"I don't know." Mei answered, "It all depends on how strong he is, don't  
you think?"  
"I think he'll give up in two days, the cave is too much for a man who's  
not blind." Sei said and sat in a large rock that was nearby, "We'll  
just have to wait and see."

Shampoo finished eating her breakfast and exited the Neko Hanten. It was  
still early and she should have time enough to take care of her business  
before she had to open the restaurant. She hopped on her bicycle and  
jumped on the nearest roof. If she hurried, she would catch her target  
without Ranma and Akane getting in the way.

The young amazon smiled when she saw Ukyo. She had been sick until  
yesterday and today she was going back to school. Shampoo waited until  
the Okonomiyaki chef finished giving Konatsu, her personal freak his  
chores for the day. "How else can you call a guy who thinks he's a girl,  
but still likes women?" Shampoo thought and giggled; she had a personal  
freak too, but, compared to Konatsu, Mousse was a real, manly man.  
"And when did he get the manly status?" A voice inside Shampoo's head  
asked.  
Shampoo closed her eyes and cursed, she had been hearing voices since  
that night she saw her mother in her dreams, and they were getting  
really annoying. "Shut up! Shampoo have better things to do now!" The  
girl said.  
"C'mon, tell me when Mousse became manly, wasn't he a piece of  
irresponsible garbage yesterday?" The voice mocked.  
"Shut up now! Shampoo said that because she tired of waiting tables  
alone! Happy now?" She shouted.  
"So, is the latest trend riding bikes on roofs talking to yourself?"  
Shampoo blinked and looked down. Ukyo was there, staring at her, and  
judging by her face, she was about to burst in laughter. "That my  
problem!" The amazon answered.  
"I bet it is. So, what brings you here?"  
Shampoo jumped down and landed in front of Ukyo. "Shampoo has offer for  
Spatula girl."  
"Sorry, not interested." Ukyo said walking away.  
"It concerns Ranma." Shampoo announced.  
"Ranma, huh?" Ukyo said stopping, "And what kind of offer it is?"  
"We fight for Ranma, one last time."  
Ukyo closed her eyes and smiled, "I pass, there's no chance you fight  
clean, besides, if you lost, you would keep chasing him."  
"Not this time, Shampoo putting her honor on the line"  
"How can I trust you?" Ukyo asked folding her arms.  
"Because Shampoo no losing." The amazon answered calmly. "Spatula girl  
no match for Shampoo."  
"No match?" Ukyo growled, "I can take you on anytime and win! I'll show  
you what a real opponent is right now!"  
Shampoo raised her right hand to stop the charging Ukyo, "Not now, if  
Spatula girl wants fight, it will be when Shampoo says."  
Ukyo took a deep breath and calmed herself, "Fine, tell me when and  
where."  
"Furinkan baseball court, in a week, after class." Shampoo explained and  
jumped back to the roofs, "Be there!" She shouted and disappeared.  
Ukyo walked to Furinkan again, pondering about what just happened. This  
wasn't like Shampoo at all. Normally, she wouldn't have said all that  
stuff about honor, "She must be planning something; I better watch my  
back." Ukyo thought and rushed to school.

Navel found that the path to Kai-Yuang was easier than what she had  
expected. She found a new path that ran all the way through the bamboo  
forest and she was advancing very quickly. At this pace, she would be  
with Mousse by tomorrow at noon. That was she thinking when she saw a  
man blocking the road ahead. Navel stopped and hid behind the bamboo.  
She thought the man was strange, but when she recognized the clothing he  
was wearing, she understood. The man was a member of the Musk dynasty,  
and judging by the way he moved, sniffing and examining the ground and  
the bamboo around him, Navel deduced that he was searching for  
something, or more likely, for someone.  
"I wonder what kind of animal attributes he has?" Navel thought as she  
reached for her sword. She wasn't sure if she was going to be attacked,  
but better to be ready, just in case.

Suddenly, the man rose from his crouching position and turned to where  
Navel was hiding. The man growled and entered the bamboo. Navel clasped  
her sword unable to move; she was sure that she had been discovered and  
that the man was trying to surround her and attack her from behind or  
from the side. She had seen the man's face for only a fraction of a  
second, but she was now sure of the man's animal attributes. They were  
feline of some kind, and that was a very bad thing. Sweating nervously,  
Navel waited the attack for a couple of hours, but nothing happened.  
Still, she waited for another hour just to make sure. Finally, when  
nothing happened, she decided that it was safe to move again. Slowly  
Navel returned to the road. After looking at both sides, she ran as fast  
as she could, and she didn't look back until she exited the bamboo  
forest.

The cave Mousse was in right now was completely dark. There was not even  
a single ray of light. Besides, there was something else that was very  
special about it. Every sound and smell were diminished to almost  
nothing. That, added to the lack of light, turned this into a very  
disorienting place. Mousse concentrated on perceiving the sounds around  
him, trying to find the exact location of his master, who was hiding  
somewhere near him. Mousse frowned; this was proving to be a very  
difficult task, but he couldn't give up. He then remembered something.  
If he couldn't use his senses to find his master, he could always try to  
feel his presence, so, Mousse focused on feeling the old master's chi  
until he found something, very dim, but it was there. The young man  
smiled and ran towards the place he thought his master was, just to  
smash his face on a wall of rock.  
"Damn it all!" Mousse shouted, "I was sure he was there! I felt his chi  
right in this spot!"  
"Mousse, trying to find me by that method is useless as I can hide my  
presence from you at will. However, no matter how good a man is at doing  
that, he will never be able to be fully silent as long as he's alive."  
Shi said from somewhere inside the darkness around Mousse.  
"What?" Mousse asked, but he received no answer, "A man can't be  
completely silent while he's alive?" He muttered, "But how?" Mousse  
asked himself and sat, thinking about what his master just told him.

Mousse scratched his head. He knew that a man had to breath to stay  
alive and that respiration caused a small, almost undetectable sound. He  
also knew that a man made noise when moving, but it was true that if a  
man was good enough, he could make no sound while breathing or moving,  
just like his master could. So what else did he have? Smell? He could  
try it, but in this place, trying to locate his master by his smell was  
not a very reliable option. Besides, as Shi said, it was more about  
sound than smell.

Several hours later, the young man still hadn't discovered a way to find  
his master by sound, but he won't quit, he couldn't. Mousse felt the  
blood being pumped to his head as he concentrated, and then, he heard  
something, like a small drum inside his head. Then it hit him,  
"Eureka!!" Mousse whispered as he jumped to his feet, "All I have to do  
is to listen to your heartbeats isn't it? YES! I'm so great!" He shouted  
and began to listen carefully, he was now sure that if he could listen  
to his own heart, it would be possible for him to listen to his master's  
heart too.  
It was hard at first, but after a few minutes, Mousse smiled. He had  
listened to Shi's heartbeats and had already pinpointed his location.  
Shi was a few steps behind him; he was sure of it, but he couldn't catch  
him without making any sound, at least not yet. Mousse decided to give  
it a try and as silent as he could, he grabbed one of his chains and  
threw it to where Shi was, but he failed as the master jumped out of the  
way. It didn't matter, Mousse had already planned for this and as soon  
as he heard where Shi landed, he threw another chain at him, which the  
master dodged too; but Mousse considered that he did it just barely and  
repeated the process, he did it several times until he felt his chains  
hit something that wasn't rock.  
"Crap!" Shi cursed.  
"I did it!" Mousse shouted, his voice, echoing trough the cave.  
"Congratulations for what you just did boy." Shi said sadly, "Now, what  
if you let me go so we can begin with the next part of your training?"  
"Sure." Mousse answered and pulled back his chains.

The night was colder than usual in Nerima, and Shampoo was having a very  
bad time. It was Sunday and his father and Cologne had just finished  
their weekly Sake night. She had finished cleaning the kitchen as usual,  
but this was the first time Mousse would not come at least to say good  
night to her, "Stupid Mousse, why you leave Shampoo alone?" She found  
herself asking to the kitchen walls. Shampoo discarded the thought and  
began to clean the table. After she did, she emptied the full ashtray on  
the garbage can and made a mental note of asking her father to stop  
smoking this new brand of cigarettes since their smell made her head  
hurt. Placing the ashtray back on the table, Shampoo closed the  
kitchen's door and went to her bedroom, only to find her window open and  
Ranma standing on the ledge. She suppressed her habit of glomping him as  
soon as she saw him and sat on her bed, not looking at him. This was the  
first time she saw Ranma since the wedding disaster, and she didn't know  
what to say.  
"Hey, Shampoo." Ranma called.  
"Shampoo tired, Ranma should have visited earlier." She answered.  
"I know it's late Shampoo, but I want to ask you something."  
"What Ranma want?"  
"I want to know why you challenged Ukyo to a fight next week."  
Shampoo smirked, that darn Ukyo and her big mouth! "That Shampoo  
business." Shampoo stated.  
"Ukyo told me something very interesting." Ranma said and sat on the  
windowsill, giving his back to the amazon, "She said you will be  
fighting for me."  
"Spatula girl can't keep secret, huh?"  
"Look Shampoo, this has to end." Ranma said without turning to face her,  
"It has gone too far already."  
"Ranma knows what to do if he wants to end this." Shampoo answered and  
walked near Ranma, stopping at his side.  
"You know I'm not marrying you."  
"Then Shampoo no stopping."  
"I thought so." Ranma answered, "Just remember something, if Akane gets  
hurt, you will regret it." The young Saotome said standing up again,  
"That's all I came here to say Shampoo, whatever you do, don't hurt  
Akane, got it?" He finished and jumped into the night.  
Shampoo stood there for a long time, thinking about what Ranma told her.  
He hadn't looked at her at all, and she knew why, if he had, he couldn't  
have told her those last words about not hurting Akane. She sighed and  
closed the window, she had to hurry, if Ranma had managed to say  
something like that, it meant that he was getting out of her reach much  
faster than before, "You are strong Akane, but Ranma will be my  
husband." Shampoo muttered in Chinese as she closed the window.

Navel smiled at the gorgeous sunrise that greeted her into a new day.  
She picked up her things and began walking again. Yesterday, she had  
covered almost the whole distance between herself and the Kai-Yuang  
valley. Soon, she would be there, and she was ready to drag Mousse out  
of that place if necessary.

Mei strolled around the entrance of Kai-Yuang, searching for her brother  
Sei. Their time with their grandfather was almost over and soon they  
would have to go back home, but Sei had said that he didn't want to go  
back home and that he would stay here. That worried her, she knew what  
would happen if Sei kept refusing to go back, but she couldn't find him  
anywhere!  
"Go away Mei, I want to be alone!"  
Mei turned around and saw her brother sitting on a rock just behind her,  
"Sei! Where were you? I've been looking for you!"  
"What do you want? If it's about going back home with you, you better  
don't tell me." Sei said and turned his back from his sister.  
"Then you really don't want to come home?" Mei asked.  
"What for? Everyone laughs at me because I... because of that!"  
"That's not a reason to stay here!"  
"And what father said?" Sei asked, "That I was a big disappointment?"  
Mei blinked, "I don't think father meant that."  
"I think he did, I think he was very serious about it."  
"Sei, just because you're not like the rest of us, doesn't mean that  
father doesn't lo..." Mei started but was interrupted by his brother,  
who grabbed her and carried her behind a boulder.  
"Don't talk." Sei whispered, "Someone's coming."  
Both siblings remained silent for a while until they saw a young woman  
walk into the valley, "She's a Joketsuzoku amazon." Sei affirmed  
"How do you know?" Mei wanted to know.  
"Look at her clothes and armor, haven't you seen them before?"  
"Yeah!" Mei answered, "From that time we..."  
"SSHHH!! Don't be so loud, I don't want her to know we're here."  
"Why?"  
"Grandfather said no one could enter the valley while he was in the  
cave, so I'm gonna kick her out of here." Sei said and crawled to where  
the unknown amazon was standing, when he was right behind her, he  
jumped, landing in front of her.

Sei forgot what he was about to say when he saw the girl in front of  
him. He hadn't seen many women before other than his mother, his sister  
and a few villagers from nearby towns. He always thought he was lucky  
about that, most of the other boys in his village turned into jelly in  
front of a girl, but not him, not until now. As he stared at the  
beautiful girl, Sei gazed on her deep blue eyes and her gorgeous green  
hair, she was smiling, and her smile was sending shivers all over him,  
and the girl's body was so perfect, like nothing he had ever seen. Sei  
gulped, how could he possibly ask such a beauty to leave? Still, he had  
to follow his grandfather orders and gathering all his courage, he tried  
to speak...

Navel was amused, the young man that suddenly landed in front of her was  
rather handsome, his brown hair and black eyes added a mysterious look  
to him, also, the stupid expression he had on his face right now made  
him look cute. She smiled, this stranger seemed to pose no threat and he  
looked like a nice young man. She noticed he was well built too, and  
that his clothing was similar to what that man she saw yesterday was  
wearing, Navel decided to ask him who he was, when he spoke...  
"I'm s-s-sorry miss, b-b-b-but you have to l-l-leave here." The Young  
man managed to say.  
"Really?" Navel asked, "And why is that? I'm here just looking for  
someone." She half singed stepping forward.  
"I c-c-c-can't let you t-t-t-trough, I..." Sei babbled.  
Navel smile grew even more; she had always had a soft spot for shy guys.  
That's what she liked the most about Mousse, "But I really need to find  
this person." She said in a soft, pleading tone of voice, "It won't take  
long, can't I just look around a little?"

Sei couldn't answer. He felt like a moron, his face all red and his  
mouth all dry. This was not what he'd planned, he knew he had to stop  
this girl, but then again, how could he say no to such a cute girl?  
Navel touched the young man's chest and watched how he yelled and  
crumbled to the floor, completely paralyzed. She sighed and happily  
walked past the young man. She was sure that he couldn't stop her even  
if he wanted to. Navel had already advanced a few steps when someone  
ordered her to stop. She turned and saw a little girl wearing a red  
hood. The girl was frowning and seemed to be really angry, "What have  
you done to my brother?"  
"Calm down girl, it's not my fault that my beauty stunned him so badly."  
Navel joked.  
"I won't calm down! He said that you couldn't pass!"  
"And you're going to stop me?" The amazon asked.  
"I'll do it if I have to!" Mei replied.  
"Look girl, I don't want to hurt you, just stay out of my way, will  
you?"  
"NO! I'll stop you!" The girl said as she tossed her hood aside, "I'll  
do it for my brother!" Mei shouted and tried to kick Navel.  
Navel cursed her luck; she really disliked fighting kids. Sighing, she  
dodged the kick and quickly used her index finger to hit a spot on the  
girl's neck to knock her out without hurting her, "I do hope you don't  
blame me when you wake up girl." Navel thought as she looked at the  
unconscious girl at her feet. The girl had some strange marks on her  
cheeks, but she didn't care; she then looked at the young man, who was  
still out of this world, "Strange people." Navel whispered and walked to  
the valley, wondering where Mousse could be. There was nothing here,  
other than the cave at her left, this place was empty. She decided that  
the cave was her best (and only) bet, so, she walked there.

Meanwhile, inside the cave, Shi was giving Mousse a speech about  
himself.  
"Shi Baoliang was born blind, but thanks to his family's support, he  
never felt rejected. His mother and father died when he was seven, after  
an accident took the life of his parents, Shi became a blind orphan who  
begged for food on the streets of Shanghai. Then, he met those that  
changed his life, an old blind man like he is now, who had no one but a  
little daughter, called Ling-Pao, who was the old man's eyes. Still, the  
man was strong, and he knew how to fight. He taught Shi how to survive,  
and most importantly, he taught him how to fight and win money doing it.  
Sadly, his master died when Shi was eighteen, and he and his new  
'sister' were forced to start all over. Shi, tired of the city,  
convinced Ling-Pao to live in one of the small villages in the  
mountains. Later, he married Ling-Pao and they had a daughter a year  
after, that daughter became an excellent martial artist, who sparked the  
interest of a young man from a highly respected dynasty that lived here  
in the mountains too. Shi's daughter married that man and they had two  
children, who you already know, but five years ago, when Ling-Pao died,  
Shi was destroyed and ended up living here in this desolated valley."

Mousse couldn't answer, he had asked his master about his life, but he  
never expected him to tell him all this. He never imagined that his new  
master had been a street urchin at some point, "Master, can I ask  
something else?"  
"Of course."  
"Which dynasty were you talking about?"  
Shi sighed, "A dynasty I have learned to dislike very much over the  
years Mousse, I'm talking about the Mu..." The master stopped and turned  
to the only tunnel that connected this part of the cave to the exit,  
"Don't you hear strange footsteps coming from the tunnel Mousse?" He  
asked.  
Mousse listened to the sounds coming from the tunnel and frowned. Yes,  
the footsteps were unknown to him, not Mei's which were fast and light,  
and definitively not Sei's, these sounded more like...  
"A woman."  
"What?" Mousse asked.  
"I said it's a woman, a young one, quite agile and she's carrying some  
heavy things." Shi explained, "Mousse, go and see who she is and what  
she wants!"  
"Yes master!" The young man whispered and ran to meet the stranger.

Navel was having a hard time walking in the dark, so she pulled out a  
lamp from her backpack and turning it on, she examined her surroundings.  
The cave was big, and the lack of stalactites or stalagmites proved that  
there was no humidity here. Strange thing considering the stream that  
was outside, anyway, that was not why she was here. She was here to find  
her Mousse, and speaking of him, where the hell was he?  
Mousse turned in one of the corners of the tunnel just to bump into  
someone. He fell backwards and quickly jumped to his feet, fearing that  
the intruder could use this to his advantage.  
"Mousse? Is that you?" A feminine voice asked.  
"Navel? What are you doing here!?"  
Navel just hugged Mousse and shoved her head in his chest, "My dear  
Mousse!" She whispered, "I was so afraid I wouldn't see you anymore!"  
Mousse began to sweat nervously. He knew this was bound to happen sooner  
or later, but not this soon!  
"Look Navel..." Mousse said, slowly pushing Navel away from him, "I  
don't know how you found me, but I want you to leave; please?"  
"I'm afraid I can't my dear; I'm here to take you back to Joketsuzoku.  
My parents are already planning our wedding." Navel explained.  
"WHAT!?" Mousse shouted, "Wedding!? Planning!? Why!?"  
Navel blushed, "You beat me, remember?"  
"Yes, I remember! But this is so sudden!"  
"Not for me dear." She answered and hugged Mousse again.  
"AAAAARRRGH! Let go off me Navel!" He yelled and pushed her away in a  
not so gentle way this time, "I can't marry you! Don't you understand!?"  
Navel sighed, "Why? Because of Shampoo? Mousse, you know she will never  
be your wife, she treats you like dirt!"  
Mousse remained silent.  
"She has always rejected you!"  
Mousse remained silent.  
"What is so special about her!? I think I'm at least as cute as her, as  
good a warrior as she is! Then why are you still going after her!?"  
Mousse remained silent.  
"She has never been there for you like I did! Who was the one who  
listened to you when you got cursed!? Who was the one who got you in  
that circus that time you wanted to go to Japan!? It was I! It's me who  
is always there for you! Not Shampoo! She would be happy if you just  
DIE!"  
Mousse remained silent.  
"And who is the one who came all the way up here just for you?" Navel  
said, her voice trembling, "It was me!"  
Mousse still remained silent.  
"I guess you don't care about me after all." Navel said sobbing.  
Mousse gulped, all that Navel said about helping him was true, but  
Shampoo was Shampoo and Navel was Navel. Even when she humiliated him,  
even when she treated him like dirt, even when she insulted him, Shampoo  
still remained in his heart. He liked Navel, he really did, but he would  
never, ever love her. But now that she was here, willing to do anything  
to marry him, showing this adamant determination to get him, all those  
things reminded him of Shampoo, of the way she chased Ranma, and even  
when it was painful to remember that, it was a memory of the woman he  
truly loved. Mousse placed his hands on Navel's shoulders, "Navel, you  
have to understand that I can't marry you, no matter what the law says,  
I can't."  
She looked up at him, "The laws are all we have! You can't ignore them!"  
"Navel...It's because of the laws that I can't marry you."  
The young woman closed her eyes as if thinking, "Mousse!" Navel shouted  
suddenly, "You're right! I know why you say you can't marry me!"  
"You do?" Mousse asked.  
"Yes! It's because of that fight Shampoo and I had over you a couple of  
years ago at the Joketsuzoku tournament!" She explained, "Shampoo won  
our duel and therefore won a claim on you that must be undone!"  
Mousse scratched the back of his head, he didn't know that, he knew  
Navel and Shampoo fought for a special reason in that tournament, but he  
never suspected that they had fought for him.

Navel jumped back to her feet and taking a deep breath she began to  
consider what she could do. She could ignore Shampoo's claim on Mousse  
because Shampoo was engaged to that Lan-ma who lived in Japan, but at  
the same time, her engagement with Mousse would not be completely  
accepted by the elders until she had defeated Shampoo in battle. Maybe  
that was the reason why her great-grandmother had been so hesitant to  
approve her marriage with Mousse, because it would be a marriage with no  
honor; now, if she wanted her marriage to be saved, she had to go and  
defeat Shampoo for real.

"Is something wrong Navel?" Mousse asked rising to his feet and walking  
towards her.  
"Not really dear, I just have to take care of something before we can  
get married." She explained.  
"You're not going after Shampoo, are you?"  
"Of course I am! I need to redeem my honor so I can marry you!"  
"But that's dangerous!" Mousse shouted, concerned about what Shampoo  
could think and do to him when he returned to Japan.  
Navel turned and interrupted Mousse, she hugged him and kissed his right  
cheek, transforming Mousse into a babbling mass of blushing flesh,  
"Don't worry dear, I won't get hurt, I promise." She said tenderly, "I  
must go now, but I'll come back for you, yes?"  
"That's not necessary, really." Mousse said still blushing.  
"Oh, it's alright Mousse, I don't mind walking all the way here again if  
it's for you." Navel smiled, "I must go now, but I'll come back, I  
promise." She finished and ran to the cave's exit, determined to go and  
beat Shampoo as soon as possible.

A few days later...  
The Neko Hanten was closed, and lonely too. Cologne had gone to buy some  
things she needed, and Shampoo on her part, had gone to attend her duel  
with that Ukyo girl, the only one here was Shampoo's father, who was  
cleaning the tables.  
The man was starting to get worried, Mousse had not yet returned and his  
daughter was seriously thinking on getting Ranma this time. He wasn't  
angry, just disappointed. The truth was that he disliked Ranma; mostly  
because of the way he had always rejected his daughter. He considered it  
an insult. Mousse on the other hand, seemed to be sincere in his  
intentions for his daughter, and he had a good reputation among the men  
in Joktsuzoku; however, for some strange reason, Cologne was not very  
fond of the boy, the man sighed sadly, he just wished that someone  
could...  
CRUSH!!  
Shampoo's father fell to the floor stunned. Three girls stood behind  
him, one of them, a girl with green hair, was holding a huge hammer.  
"Pink, Link, Tie him up! I'll go search for Shampoo!"  
"Got it boss! Over." Pin and Link answered.

Navel entered the kitchen, but she found nobody, she ran upstairs and  
checked every room, but no one was there either, frowning, she went back  
to the restaurant area  
"Where is she!?" She asked Shampoo's dad.  
"Why do you want to know?" He asked.  
Navel pulled out a copy of the Joketsuzoku monthly from her pocket and  
showed it to Shampoo's father, "Because of this! If I want to marry  
Mousse, I have to defeat your daughter!"  
"Then, I won't tell you." The man said smirking, "I cannot allow you to  
marry Mousse."  
Navel smirked a little, "So, you say that you won't tell me, right?" She  
said as she walked behind the man, "Do you have any idea of what I could  
do to you if you don't tell me?"  
"Yes, but I'm still not telling you!" Shampoo's father said firmly.  
"We'll see about that." The young amazon answered and looked at the  
Yaocaicun twins, "Pink, Link, did you brought the tell-true spores with  
you?"  
"Sure we did! Over." Pink replied  
"I have them here in my bag, over." Link finished.  
"Good." Navel said, "Sprinkle him girls!" She ordered and backed a few  
steps.  
A loud Nooooooo! was heard from the Neko Hanten, which was followed by a  
sepulchral silence.

The wind blew gently Ukyo's hair, she was waiting for Shampoo, as was  
every other student in Furinkan, they all had gathered here in the  
baseball court to watch the fight between her and the amazon. To her  
left, Ranma and Akane were sitting together, staring at her. Ranma had  
tried to talk her out of this, but Ukyo refused, this was her best  
chance to get rid of Shampoo, and she wouldn't let it go.  
Shampoo was watching it all from a tree in her cat form, she had been  
splashed by an old woman on her way here, and she hadn't yet found a  
source of hot water, the cat meowed angrily and ran to the school, maybe  
she could find hot water in the cafeteria.

"Where is she?" Ukyo asked Ranma a few minutes later, "She should be  
here by now!"  
"I don't know." Ranma answered, "Maybe she decided to cancel the duel?"  
"Of course not, Shampoo is too stubborn for that." Akane commented.  
Ukyo was about to answer when someone landed behind her. Every student  
wowed at the girl that had suddenly appeared. She had green hair, and  
was wearing a red jacket with black jeans, "Who are you?" Ukyo asked,  
"If Shampoo sent you, then go and tell her that I have better things to  
do than stand here like a fool!"  
Navel ignored the chef; she instead looked around searching for Shampoo.  
When she didn't find her, she grabbed Ukyo by the neck of the shirt of  
her chef outfit and pulled her close, "You mentioned Shampoo, where is  
she?"  
Ukyo blinked, she had thought all Chinese bimbos were unable to talk  
straight Japanese, but this girl had proved her wrong, "I don't know, I  
would like to know it too." She answered as she took Navel's hand off  
her shirt.  
"You want to see her too?" Navel asked as she cleaned her hand on her  
jeans, as if she had been holding something dirty, "Why is that?"  
"We have... Some business to take care off." Ukyo said.  
"I see." Navel replied and folded her arms, "So, you and Shampoo are  
having a fight, right?"  
"Yes we are, and you better not interfere!" Ukyo threatened.  
"Why? Are you afraid that I'd hurt you?" Navel mocked.  
Ukyo growled, this Amazon might speak Japanese better than Shampoo, but  
it was as annoying as her! "You take that back or else!"  
"Or else what? You're gonna cook me? Don't make me laugh." The green  
haired amazon answered half laughing, "YouAreNoMatch!"  
The chef's blood was boiling, no match? Who did this hussy think she  
was? It was bad enough for Shampoo to have said that, and now, a total  
stranger was insulting her martial arts skills? This girl was pushing  
her luck a lot here, "You! How dare you say that!?"  
"I dare to do everything I want! Besides, I don't understand why is  
Shampoo wasting her time with lame fighters like you!" Navel answered,  
giving Ukyo a cold stare.

That was the last Ukyo could take. Growling, she dashed towards Navel,  
swinging her spatula several times and trying to hit the amazon, but  
Navel just dodged every swipe of Ukyo's weapon.  
"Is this all you can do?" Navel asked, "Then I don't know how were you  
expecting to ever defeat Shampoo."  
"Shut the hell up!" Ukyo shouted, still trying to hit her adversary.  
"Look, you're not even a challenge, if you give up now, I'll let you go  
unharmed, what do you say?" Navel offered as she dodged another swing of  
Ukyo's spatula.  
"I'm not giving up!" Ukyo answered.  
"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Navel shouted and, dodging Ukyo's  
attacks, she slammed her palm into Ukyo's chin, sending the chef flying  
all the way where Ranma and Akane where standing. Ukyo tried to get up,  
but she fell backwards, unconscious.  
"What have you done to her!" Ranma yelled.  
Navel turned to see the young Saotome, "Calm down, your friend is not  
injured, she's just going to sleep for a couple of hours."  
Ranma was carrying Ukyo in his arms now, then he looked angrily at  
Navel, "I don't know who you are, but if you're lying, I'll come back  
and get you for this!"  
"I'm telling you the truth, she's sleeping! And my name is..."  
"Navel!" A woman shouted from behind the green haired amazon.  
"Yes, that's my name." The amazon said, "Where were you Shampoo? I've  
been waiting for you."  
"What you did to Spatula girl?" Shampoo demanded, "Shampoo must have  
duel with her!"  
Navel blinked, then she answered in Chinese, "Shampoo, you impress me,  
you have been in Japan for almost a year and you still can't speak the  
language properly? My, you really are dense."  
"Shampoo no dense!"  
"Please, speak in Chinese." Navel said, "I feel like I'm having a chat  
with Tarzan."  
Shampoo frowned and switched to Chinese, "The way I speak Japanese is my  
problem, got it? And why did you fight my fight? I was going to have a  
duel with that girl you just trashed!"  
"She was getting in the way." Navel said shrugging, "It's not my fault  
she has such a short fuse."  
Shampoo nodded, "Yes, I know her temper, but that's not the point, that  
was my fight!"  
"Well, I'm sorry, okay? Look Shampoo, I want to..." Navel began.  
Meanwhile, Ranma on his part had told Akane that he was taking Ukyo to a  
doctor, and not waiting for Akane to answer, he just jumped out of the  
school with Ukyo in his arms.  
"Hey! Where Ranma going? Shampoo asked Akane, she had caught a glimpse  
of Ranma leaving the school and she completely forgot about Navel.  
"He's taking Ukyo to a doctor" Akane explained, "Or at least that's what  
he said."  
"Shampoo! I challen..." Navel tried to say.  
"Shampoo busy now!" The blue haired girl shouted as she ran behind  
Ranma.  
"I said I challenge you." Navel whispered, watching how Shampoo  
disappeared.  
"Don't worry, she's always like that." Akane said.  
"Yes, I know her." Navel replied looking at the girl that just spoke to  
her, "So, was he the famous Ranma Saotome?"  
"Famous?" Akane asked "He will be famous for the beating I'm going to  
give him if he takes Ukyo somewhere else than with a doctor!" The young  
Tendo said before stomping her way out of school.  
Navel blinked, "I knew this place was odd, but not this much." She  
thought as she too left the school. It was useless to try and find  
Shampoo as she didn't know this town very well, so she just decided to  
go to her new home, she had to prepare for tomorrow anyway.

Two days later...  
In China, Mousse stood in the middle of the cave, Shi in front of him.  
For this last four days, the old man had been preparing Mousse for this  
day, the day they would fight again in the same terms, both enveloped by  
absolute darkness. This time, Shi considered that he still had the  
advantage, but at the same time, he knew Mousse had improved a lot and  
was now as good as him when it came to blind style fighting. The master  
was happy he had known this boy, Mousse was the only one who could have  
learned his blind style. Now, since Sei had already mastered the  
Baoliang not-blind style, he felt his job as a martial arts master was  
complete, because there were now two young men who would carry on his  
legacy, and that was the best thing he could hope for.  
"Master, what are we going to do here?"  
Shi grasped firmly his staff, "Today Mousse, we shall fight for real. I  
won't hold back and I hope you won't either."  
"But Master, I'm not ready yet!"  
"Mousse, this is the reason why you always fail. You must not doubt!"  
"Master, I..."  
"Mousse, you have trained with me for more than a month, haven't you?"  
"Yes master, I've been here for a month and four days."  
"And in this time, you have mastered everything I have taught you, have  
you not?"  
"Yes. I think I have." Mousse replied.  
"Then, why are you refusing? Don't you want to see if what I taught you  
is useful in battle?"  
"I...Yes, I want to know how useful this style is."  
"Then, stop talking and attack me!" Shi shouted while jumping into a  
fighting stance.  
Mousse doubted a little, but then he dashed to where his master was and  
punched, hoping Shi could avoid his fist.

Mei ran all the way out of the cave. She had been spying on her  
grandfather and Mousse, and she didn't like what she had heard. The last  
time her grandfather said something like that was when he had tested  
Sei's skills on the not-blind style, and that time, her grandfather  
almost killed Sei! Panting, Mei jumped over the stream and climbed Sei's  
favorite tree, which was where her brother was right now.  
"Brother!"  
Mei's shout almost caused Sei to fall from the tree branch he was  
sitting on, he took a deep breath and looked at her sister, "Calm down  
Mei, what is it?"  
"Grandfather is fighting Mousse again!" She said almost crying.  
"So?" Sei answered and took a bite from his rice ball, "It's part of his  
training, you shouldn't worry that much."  
"But grandfather said that he would not hold back!" Mei shouted, "Don't  
you remember what happened when grandpa told you that?"  
"Yes, he fought me with all his strength, I guess it will be the same  
for Mousse."  
"But you almost got killed! Don't you think Mousse could get badly  
injured too?"  
Sei finished his rice ball and softly took her sister's hands in his,  
"Mei, you shouldn't worry about Mousse. Even when I hate to admit it,  
he's stronger than me and grandpa shouldn't be able to hurt him as much  
as he did to me."  
"But Mousse..." Mei said, tears rolling down her face.  
Sei dried up his sister's tears, "Why are you crying Mei? I told you  
that Mousse would be alright."  
The little girl shoved her face in her brother's chest, and she began to  
cry harder, "That's not it!" She shouted, "I don't want him to go away!"  
"But why? Mei, you know that he has to go back to Japan."  
"I don't want Mousse to leave because I... love him." Mei whispered as  
she kept crying.  
"Mei, Mousse has a girlfriend already."  
"But she's bad! She attacked us!"  
"Actually, we attacked her first, remember?" He said, trying not to  
think about the strange green haired girl. Sei had really liked her, and  
the fact that she was Mousse's girlfriend was killing him. It was  
strange, however, the way that Mousse refused to talk about her.  
"Brother, why do I feel like this? I didn't want this to happen." Mei  
told her brother, fighting back the tears.  
Sei couldn't find his voice. His sister, an eight-year-old girl, had a  
crush on his rival. That was something he never thought would happen.  
Sighing, Sei carefully cradled her in his arms. Not sure of what to do  
or say to help his sister find comfort, he kissed her forehead and  
stroked her hair, "Mei, we'll work this out, I promise." He said softly.  
"You do?" She asked, smiling a little.  
"Yes, I do." He said and smiled too, "I do."  
"Thank you Sei."  
"It's fine, I'm your big brother, and you know that's my job." He joked.  
Mei laughed a little and leaned her head in her brother's chest.

Back inside the cave, Mousse crashed into a wall. He had just been hit  
by one of his master's kicks, "You are not focusing in the fight  
Mousse!" Shi scolded, "We're not playing games here!"  
Mousse didn't answer, he instead jumped out of the way of his master's  
next attack and threw his chains at him. Shi dodged all the chains and  
ran to where Mousse was, "Mousse, I told you not to use those weapons!"  
Shi shouted as he punched Mousse's gut, "The only weapon you're allowed  
to use is the staff I gave you!"  
Mousse spat blood; he was amused at how skilled his master really was.  
When they first fought, Shi had showed skills equal to those he had, in  
fact, Mousse thought that he was as good as his master, but now he knew  
how wrong he had been. He tried to counter with a punch of his own, but  
he missed, and in return, Shi's staff hit Mousse on the head. The young  
man stumbled and almost fell. He knew he had to do something. He had not  
been able to hit his master yet, and if this continued, he didn't want  
to think about it. So he concentrated on just dodging the current flood  
of attacks and tried to find a strategy to win this fight.

Mousse reached a ledge and hid behind it. He was tempted to unfold his  
eyes, but that would be like quitting, besides, the cave was completely  
dark, and unfolding his eyes wouldn't help him at all, he remembered the  
staff in his hand. His master used his staff only to attack at close  
quarters, and now that he thought of it, it was the only way Shi  
attacked. That was most interesting, Mousse was good at throwing  
weapons, which gave him a little bit of an advantage at long quarters  
over his master, but he could only use this staff. The boy frowned a  
little, how was he supposed to use this staff to attack from a long  
distance?  
"I've got you!" Shi shouted and attacked Mousse from behind.  
Mousse tried to move out of the way, but it was too late. His master's  
staff hit his left shoulder, and Mousse screamed in pain. He used his  
own staff to block the rest of Shi's blows, and quickly jumped out of  
the way, all his left side was starting to get numb. His master was  
approaching and Mousse couldn't allow another blow like the last one.  
Gritting his teeth, Mousse did what he did best, and threw his staff at  
his master.

Shi got hit in the middle of his eyes, he hadn't felt it coming, and he  
never expected Mousse to use the staff this way. As he fell on his back,  
the master smiled pleased. It had been such a long time since he had  
been hit; it was really hilarious. The last one who hit him like this  
had been Sei, who somehow managed to kick his kidneys, and that happened  
almost a year ago. Shi rolled when he touched the ground and got back to  
his feet.

Mousse heard a loud thud followed by the sound of his master hitting the  
ground. He had managed to hit him, probably on the face, but he also  
knew that his master was not really hurt. Mousse also noticed something,  
his staff had bounced from Shi's face to the roof of the cave and from  
there, it had bounced near him. He rushed to pick his weapon and smiled,  
he had an idea that would help him win. Running to the left, he threw  
his staff at his master again. Mousse grinned when he heard the thud; he  
had hit Shi on the head again. The young man listened carefully and  
found that his staff was bouncing his way. Mousse jumped and caught his  
staff in midair with his right hand, then landed in front of his master,  
who was still rubbing his jaw, the spot Mousse's staff had hit him in.  
"Hi!" Mousse said and kicked Shi's chest with all his strength, flooring  
the old man.  
Shi was motionless on the floor, and he was amazed, he didn't know  
Mousse was this strong, and he never imagined that Mousse could do this;  
it caught him completely out of guard, what a boy! His inventiveness was  
impressive. Shi wished that Sei was a little bit more like Mousse when  
fighting. His grandson became too dependent on his cursed form to fight,  
but lately, since Mousse's arrival, Sei had started to train again, and  
the boy was improving. Shi was happy about that; if Sei kept training,  
in less than a month he would be as good as Mousse and then, his  
students would surpass him. What else could a martial arts master want?  
"Master? Are you alright?"  
Shi grunted, "Of course I'm not alright, you idiot! I think you broke  
my ribs!"  
Mousse leaned over his master and checked his ribs, "No, I don't think  
they're broken master." He said.  
BONK!!  
"AAAAUCH!" Mousse complained.  
"Hehehehe!" Shi laughed, "You're so naive boy! Remember that you must  
never approach a fallen opponent until you're sure he is harmless!"  
Mousse rubbed his head and laughed too, "Yeah, I guess I deserve it."  
Shi got up and called Mousse, together, they walked to the exit of the  
cave.

Once outside, Mousse was finally allowed to unfold his eyes. He blinked  
a few times until his eyes got used to the light, then, he smiled. His  
blindness hadn't got any worse, which was good, and it felt great to  
stare at all those colorful blurs again. Mousse pulled out his glasses  
and after putting them on, he looked at his master, "Now what?" Mousse  
asked.  
"Nothing." Shi answered, "Your training is complete, you are free to  
go."  
"Really?" Mousse said, "But I don't feel any stronger than when I  
started."  
"Don't be stupid kid, when you came here for the first time, I defeated  
you with only half of my strength, and now, you bested me in combat, do  
you really think that you aren't stronger than before?"  
"Well, it's just that I don't feel different, that's all."  
Shi sat on the ground and sighed, "Mousse, you won't see the results of  
my training until you fight with an opponent you really want to defeat;  
that's the way of the Baoliang fighting styles."  
Mousse was about to answer, but he was interrupted by Mei who shouted  
his name and rushed to where he was. Mousse smiled and crouched to talk  
to the little girl, "Mei, What's up?"  
Mei winced a little and then she sat, frowning, "Mousse, I want to ask  
you something." She said, "Are you really leaving us?"  
"What?" Mousse blinked a few times, this really wasn't what he was  
expecting Mei to say, "Well, I have to go back to Japan, but I can come  
and visit soon if you want."  
"You are going to meet that green haired quack, right?" Mei said and  
looked to the ground.  
"Quack? You mean Navel?" Mousse asked.  
"Yes I'm talking about her, I think that it's not fair that you leave us  
to see that mean girl!" Mei shouted.  
"But I'm not going to see her, I'm going to challenge an evil man."  
Mousse answered as he tried to figure out why Mei was acting so weird,  
Mousse also looked at his master to see if he knew what was going on,  
but the old man was pretending to be very interested in a plant that was  
growing next to the exit of the cave.  
"You're lying! I know that as soon as you left Kai-Yuang, you'll run to  
that girl's house!" Mei yelled.  
"But I'm not..." Mousse started, then Mei launched herself at him, and  
Mousse was forced to hold her.  
"Mousse, I don't want you to go! Why don't you stay here? We could play  
and have fun forever!" the girl pleaded.  
"MEI! That's enough!" Sei shouted from the top of the cave and then  
jumped down, "Get away from Mousse, you know he has to go."  
Mei slowly obeyed and sadly broke Mousse's hug, "I'm sorry." She  
whispered.  
If Mousse didn't know what was going on before, now he was completely  
confused, "Hey, what is going on here?" He asked.  
"None of your business." Sei answered and took his sister's hand, "So,  
are you leaving?"  
"Yes, I'll leave tonight." He said and looked at Mei, "But I promise  
I'll visit soon, there's no need to worry Mei, We'll play together  
again."  
The little girl sobbed and smiled, "Fine, but stay until dinner, okay? I  
have a surprise for you." She said and went into the cave.  
"What's going on with her?" Mousse asked Sei.  
"My sister... Well, who knows? She's odd like that sometimes." Sei  
answered and walked away.

"Sei!" Mousse called.  
"What?"  
"Can I ask you a favor?"  
"Depends on what it is." Sei said and looked at Mousse, "What do you  
want?"  
"Would you come with me to Jusenkyo?" Mousse asked.  
"Jusenkyo?" Sei was startled, "What for? Do you want to get cursed too?"  
"No, I want to get rid of a curse, but I don't want to go alone." Mousse  
explained, as memories of his falling into the spring of the drowned  
duck came back to him.  
"So you are cursed." Sei frowned, "Wait, are you planning something?  
Like, getting rid of my curse as well?"  
"No I want to get rid of MY curse, I don't care about yours at all."  
Mousse explained, "Look, just tell me if you're coming or not, I won't  
get mad if you refuse."  
Sei messed his hair and eyed Mousse, "Alright, I'll go with you, but you  
better not try anything funny, got it?"  
Mousse nodded, "Got it, so, what if we leave now? I want to be here for  
dinner."  
"Fine, let's go." Sei replied and ran to the entrance of the valley,  
"What are you waiting for?" He shouted, "Weren't you the one who wanted  
to go to Jusenkyo?"  
Mousse smiled and ran behind Sei.  
Shi walked to the cave. The master always wondered why was it always so  
hard for young men to openly admit friendship. Well, he had better  
things to worry about, like his granddaughter for example.

"Shampoo!" Cologne shouted.  
"Yes great-grandmother?"  
"How come we haven't had any customers in two days!?" The old woman  
wanted to know.  
"Shampoo not know, maybe this Spatula girl doing?"  
"I don't think so." Cologne said, "Maybe..."  
"I have news!" Shampoo's father shouted as he rushed inside the Neko  
Hanten, "I know why the customers have been so scarce!"  
"You know?" Cologne asked.  
"Father knows?" Shampoo asked too.  
"Yes! There's a new restaurant in town! It's called Navel's tea house!"  
The man said panting.  
"So that's what was happening." Cologne said a little bit calmer than  
before, "Shampoo, go to Navel's restaurant and see what is making it so  
special."

Shampoo nodded and after asking her father the directions, she ran to  
the place.  
A few minutes later, Shampoo arrived to Navel's place. It was located in  
a two-story house, but the first floor was the actual restaurant. It had  
two large windows on the front wall and a big wooden door in the middle.  
On top of the door, there was a red sign that read: 'Navel's Tea House'  
written in big yellow letters.  
Shampoo walked to one of the windows and stared at the inside of the  
restaurant. The place was full of customers, and everyone seemed happy.  
Shampoo was starting to get mad. Why was all the people here so happy?  
"Shampoo! What a nice surprise!" A girl called in Chinese.  
The blue haired amazon blinked and turned, she found herself facing  
Navel, who was wearing a black and red kimono and her hair was tied up  
in a traditional style, Shampoo smirked, "Navel!" She said, "So, this is  
why you have been so quiet lately."  
"Exactly! I have to turn this place into the best restaurant of this  
town! And that takes time." Navel explained as she smiled proudly, "I  
heard that your restaurant was in serious need of customers though,  
maybe I could go and have dinner there." She mocked.  
Shampoo needed all her willpower to stop herself from punching Navel,  
she instead grinned and looked straight at her eyes, "Well, what you  
heard was wrong, but if you want to go and have dinner to the Neko  
Hanten you are welcome."  
"Actually." Navel started, "What I want is to have a duel with you."  
Navel commented and looked into Shampoo's eyes.  
"I don't want to fight with you Navel, it's a waste of time." Shampoo  
said and jumped to the nearest roof, quickly disappearing.  
Navel just smiled and entered the restaurant again, "We'll see about  
that." She muttered.

In the roofs, Shampoo Neko observed when Navel went back into her  
restaurant, the cat jumped down of the roof and then made its way to the  
back of Navel's Tea House, there, the cat saw a door that was partially  
open, and with no hesitation, the cat entered the restaurant. Once  
inside, Shampoo Neko saw that Pink and Link were in charge of cooking,  
and that the twins added a small dose of a strange powder into every  
dish they cooked. As Shampoo discovered, it was some kind of happiness  
inducing spore they had brought from China. The cat frowned, so that's  
why all the customers were coming here! Shampoo felt like writing her  
name in Pink and Link's faces with her sharp cat claws. She was about to  
jump at Link's face when Navel grabbed her.  
"Is this cat yours?" She asked to the twins.  
"No, it's not ours, over." Both twins answered.  
"Well, it's cute!" Navel said smiling, "I think I'll keep it." She said,  
and then looked at the twins, "I have to go to the Neko Hanten, will you  
be alright here?"  
"Yes Boss, no problem! Over." Link said  
"The happy spore is working wonders! Over." Pink added.  
"Oh, about that thing." Navel said, "I want you to stop mixing it with  
the food. I don't want to be sued if one of the clients notices that  
strange powder, besides, our normal cooking is good enough." The green  
haired amazon explained.  
"Alright boss, no more happy spore, over." Link promised.  
"Understood, over." Pink finished.  
"Good." Navel said and exited the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Navel was in her bedroom in the second floor. She  
had changed to her amazon outfit, and was now fixing her ponytail. At  
her side, Shampoo Neko was staring at her, and at the same time, was  
trying to find a way to get away from her.  
"Are you nervous kitty?"  
Shampoo meowed angrily and tried to jump down of the bed, but Navel held  
her and scratched her head, "Hey, kitty, want to see something special?"  
Navel said absently as she picked her copy of Joketsuzoku monthly and  
placed it on the bed. She opened it on a page that had a picture of  
Mousse and then she pointed, "That's my boyfriend kitty, isn't he a very  
handsome man?"  
The cat growled at the picture, boyfriend!? That Mousse was going to  
pay!  
"All I need to do now is to defeat my rival so our engagement is  
accepted by the elders of my village, once I do, I will be able to marry  
my Mousse."  
Shampoo meowed again, so that was the reason why Navel was challenging  
her to a duel every time they met? And what was that thing about HER  
Mousse? She couldn't take this anymore, hissing, the cat jumped down of  
the bed and to the window, Navel walked to the cat and tried to grab it,  
but the angry feline jumped out of her reach and ran until Navel  
couldn't see it anymore.  
"Now, that was odd." Navel thought as she closed the window, not too  
long after that, she heard a loud crash coming from downstairs.  
"NAVEL! Come here!!" Shampoo's voice demanded.

Seconds later, Navel entered the restaurant area of her house, as she  
was expecting, one of the walls had a Shampoo sized hole, and Shampoo  
herself stood in the middle of the large room. Pink and Link were  
watching it all from the kitchen, and their faces were blank with panic,  
the customers, they all had run out of the place.  
"So, why are you here again?" Navel asked, "Are you finally going to  
fight me or what?"  
"Shampoo wants to know why you think you can marry Mousse!"  
"Oh, that. Well, a few weeks ago, Mousse went to China you know, and he  
challenged me to a duel, and he won, not that I let him win, it's just  
that Mousse is soooo strong." Navel explained and smirked, "Oh, and when  
he kissed me in that cave, he said that he was tired of you and your  
violent antics."  
Shampoo's face showed no emotions at all, she couldn't yet understand  
what was happening, "Show me proofs." She demanded, even when the  
pictures she had seen as a cat where still fresh in her mind, she needed  
to see more of them to make sure that they were real.  
"With pleasure." Navel replied still smirking, "Here." She said and  
handed Shampoo a copy of the Joketsuzoku monthly, "You can keep it. I  
have plenty of copies."  
"That because no one cares for you." Shampoo muttered as she read the  
cover of the Newspaper.  
"What did you say!?" Navel shouted.  
"Shampoo said you are boring news."  
Navel twisted her lips and snatched the newspaper from Shampoo's hands,  
"That was rude!"  
"Not as much as you." Shampoo replied in Chinese, "Witch."  
"WHAT!?" Navel shouted, her face red with rage, "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"  
"You heard Shampoo." The blue haired girl answered switching back to  
Japanese.  
"That's it!" Navel fumed, "I was going to make our duel a simple fight,  
but now it's going to be to the death!" She shouted, "Shampoo, I  
challenge you!"  
"No, I challenge you." Shampoo replied and she gave Navel the kiss of  
death.  
Navel gritted her teeth and glanced at Shampoo, "Two days from now, at  
dusk, in that baseball court you were going to fight that crazy chef!"  
"Good, Shampoo will be there." She said and walked out of Navel's  
restaurant, through a new hole in the wall, of course.  
Navel blinked, and then noticed how Pink and Link were staring at her.  
"Cut that out you two!" She shouted, "And come here and help me clean  
all this mess!"

Shampoo sat in the middle of a park; she couldn't understand what she  
had just done in Navel's place. What had gotten into her? She had  
behaved like a crazy maniac! She felt stupid, and the way she called  
Navel! Why did she call her that?  
"But she deserved it, didn't she?" The voice in Shampoo's head asked.  
"Yes, I guess so." Shampoo answered.  
"Of course she did. How dare she say that Mousse doesn't care for you  
anymore! That was just plain rude!" The voice affirmed.  
"Mousse has nothing to do with this!" Shampoo shouted.  
"Are you sure?" The voice asked and vanished.  
Shampoo was about to shout again, but she noticed that lots of people  
were staring at her, blushing, Shampoo walked out of the park and rushed  
home.

Hours later, in China, Mousse and Sei were entering Kai-Yuang Valley.  
Mousse was carrying a bottle filled with water and he would occasionally  
give appreciative glances to it.  
"Why is that water so important?" Sei asked.  
"I rather not to talk about it." Mousse replied.  
"Whatever." Sei said shrugging, "So, how does it feel?"  
"What?" Mousse asked.  
"Being free of your curse, you moron."  
"It feels good." Mousse said, still looking at the bottle.  
"If I were you, I would have jumped in a spring with a better curse."  
"I'm fine as it is, thank you." Mousse said, "Besides, I never wanted to  
be cursed in the first place."  
"Well, I can understand you, it must be terrible to be a duck half of  
the time." Sei said and laughed a little.  
"Hey! I didn't ask for that curse, okay?"  
"Calm down, it's just that I think you must have hated it, that's all."  
"If you just knew." Mousse said as an image of Ryoga came to his mind,  
"There are worse curses than the one I had."  
"I bet there are." Sei answered and stopped, "Mousse, I want to ask you  
something about the girl who came here the other day."  
"What do you want to know?"  
"Well, I was like, wondering if she really is your girlfriend. It's okay  
if she is, I'm just curious, really."  
Mousse looked at Sei, "No, she's not my girlfriend. Look Sei, it's hard  
to explain. It involves a lot of the laws of the amazon village and I  
don't feel like explaining them to you right now."  
"Hey, you don't have to! I just wanted to know if she was your girl or  
not." Sei said smiling like never before, "Look! There's Mei and  
grandpa!" Sei said and ran to the cave.  
Mousse nodded and followed Sei. He was curious about Mei's surprise,  
however, he could perceive a faint smell that gave him a clue about what  
the surprise was.

The little girl waved her hand to greet her brother and Mousse. Shi just  
smiled and asked the boys to sit by the fire.  
"Hey Mousse, are you ready for your surprise?" Mei said happily.  
"Sure." He replied and looked at Mei, "What is it?"  
"Close your eyes! It's something good!" Mei ordered.  
Mousse did what the girl said and closed his eyes, "And now?"  
"Now, just open your mouth wide." Mei said as she reached for a bowl  
filled with steamy ramen.  
Mousse opened his mouth, as he had suspected, the girl had cook ramen  
for him, but why?  
"Here you go." Mei said and shoved a bunch of Ramen in Mousse's mouth  
with her chopsticks, "This is the first time I've cooked Ramen." She  
said, "So, is it good?"  
Mousse chewed on the ramen and enjoyed the taste. It was not as good as  
Shampoo's, but it was very good, and he wondered if this was really the  
first time she had cooked this, "It's exquisite!" Mousse answered with a  
smile, "The best one I've had in a long time! I can't believe it's the  
first time you cooked ramen!" He said and opened his eyes,  
"Congratulations Mei!"  
The little girl blushed and smiled shyly, "Thank you Mousse1 I was  
thinking of you when I cooked it."  
"Well, it's excellent! Really." He finished.  
"Hey, and what about me?" Sei asked, "Is all the ramen for Mousse?"  
"Yeah, I want some too!" Shi said.  
"Calm down! There's plenty for everyone!" Mei singed happily and then  
gave her brother and grandfather each a bowl of ramen.  
"Wow! it IS good!" Sei said after tasting it.  
"Yes, I agree, as good as your departed grandmother's! And that is a lot  
of compliment my dear Mei!" Shi added.  
"Thank you everyone!" Mei thanked triumphantly.  
"Mei, why ramen?" Mousse asked.  
She flushed again, "Okay, I'll tell you, remember when we first met? I  
ate all your ramen that time, and I thought that this was the best way  
to apologize for eating all your food." Mei explained.  
"Well, this is the best apology I've ever had!" Mousse joked, "Can I  
have more please?" He asked and handed his bowl to Mei.

Mousse and Sei were the only ones that still were sitting along the  
fire. Mei had fallen asleep a few hours earlier, and she was sleeping  
now inside the cave, and Shi, well...Shi was taking care of some  
personal business in the most distant part of the valley. The pot Mei  
cooked the ramen in was still besides the fire, empty by now, and four  
bowls were also at its side. The two young men had been talking about  
what Mei did at first, but now, they were talking about themselves.  
"So, are you leaving tomorrow?" Sei asked Mousse.  
"Yes." He answered.  
"Then please, leave before my sister wakes up."  
"But I want to say goodbye to her!" Mousse complained.  
Sei glanced at the empty bowls, and then at Mousse, "Do you want to hurt  
her?"  
"Hurt her? What are you talking about?"  
"Mousse, my sister likes you a lot." Sei explained, "Look, you are her  
first real friend, and I don't want her to cry when she has to say good  
bye to you."  
Mousse stared at Sei for a moment, "I didn't know that."  
"Well, now you know, so please, leave when she's still sleeping."  
"Alright, I'll do that, but just because of what you said." Mousse  
replied and picked the bowls and the pot up, "I'm taking this inside" He  
said and walked into the cave, "I'm sure master will not mind."  
"Yeah, you do that." Sei answered as he stared at the fire, "I'm sorry  
Mei." He whispered.

Inside the cave, Mousse placed the pot and the bowls inside a rock sink  
Shi had built years ago and then he walked to the dorm area of the cave.  
There, he found Mei snoring softly in her futon. She had somehow crawled  
out of her blanket and was hugging her pillow. She looked so innocent,  
so cute. Mousse smiled at her and covered her with her blanket. Mousse  
walked a few steps, but then, he went back to Mei's side. He searched in  
his sleeves until he finally pulled out a teddy bear. He crouched and  
placed the toy at the girl's side. He glanced at Mei for a last time and  
then he went to pack his things.

Sei wasn't amazed when Mousse called him, neither when he saw him  
carrying his backpack, "Changed your mind about leaving tomorrow?"  
"Yes."  
"Thanks." Sei answered and looked at the fire, "Mousse, where are you  
really going? You never told us."  
"Sei, you shouldn't ask those things!" Shi said as he walked to them,  
"Everyone has the right to keep a few secrets."  
"I know, I just was curious." Sei answered.  
"You're always curious." Shi countered and stood besides Mousse,  
"Mousse, if you're leaving now, there's only one more thing I have to  
tell you."  
"What is it master?" Mousse asked.  
"I don't know who you want to fight with, but promise me that when you  
do, you will show him how strong my blind style is, got it?" Shi shouted  
and slapped Mousse's back.  
"Yes I promise master." Mousse said half smiling, "I won't disappoint  
you."  
"Good, now what are you waiting for? Do you want a hug or something?"  
Shi joked, "Get out of here boy!"  
"Yes master!" Mousse answered and ran to the exit of the valley, "Bye  
Sei! Say good bye to Mei for me!" He shouted before he disappeared into  
the shadows.  
"Well, he's gone." Sei commented.  
"Yes, he is." Shi agreed, "I'll miss that boy." He admitted  
"Me too." Sei replied.  
"Alright kid." Shi said and looked at Sei, "How long?"  
"How long what?" He asked.  
"Until you go after Mousse and challenge him again. How long?" Shi  
demanded.  
Sei smiled, his grandfather had read his thoughts, "A month, maybe  
less." Sei said, "I only need to train a little bit more."  
"Want some help with that?" Shi offered.  
Sei's eyes opened wide as he smiled at his grandfather, "You...you  
would?"  
"Sure! I have this trick I've been wanting to show for a long time, but  
I was waiting until you were motivated enough to learn it." Shi  
explained, "Want to start training tomorrow?"  
"Yeah!" Sei shouted.  
"Good." Shi said and smiled.

For the last two days, Shampoo had been completely restless. She had not  
trained at all. Two days were not really enough to get in proper shape  
for an amazon duel, but she was confident that she would be the winner.  
On the other hand, she wasn't sure if she could kill Navel. She had  
never killed another person, and she was glad about that, but she wasn't  
sure about Navel. In case Navel won, would she kill her? That question  
had only crossed Shampoo's mind once, and it scared her, so she rejected  
it immediately. The chance was there, but she was a Joketsuzoku amazon,  
and she couldn't run from battle.

Navel was staring at a clock in the wall. It was almost time for her  
fight with Shampoo, and she was afraid. All the times she had fought  
Shampoo, she had lost. In the end, Shampoo always won. Navel stopped  
watching the clock and reached for her sword. It was time already. Dusk  
would come in less than half an hour, and she didn't want to be late.  
Navel said good-bye to the twins and walked to Furinkan. The reason why  
Navel was afraid was that there was a big chance that Shampoo would kill  
her, but she was also afraid of what she would have to do if she won.  
Yes, she was afraid, but she was a Joketsuzoku amazon, and she couldn't  
run from battle.

Furinkan's baseball court was usually a peaceful place, and this night  
was no exception. The dim lights that illuminated the center of the  
court, and the soft wind that blew the few leaves that had fallen from  
the surrounding trees created a nice and inviting environment. It was  
the perfect place for a date, but, when a young woman walked slowly into  
the field and waited for several minutes until another young woman  
arrived, the harmony of the place was broken. It was clear that these  
two women were not here for a friendly chat; they were here to fight.  
"Navel." Shampoo greeted, no emotions in her voice.  
"Shampoo" Navel answered, her voice as emotionless as her rival's.

Both girls were wearing the traditional warrior outfit of the amazons,  
with the light chest armor and steel bracelets. For the casual eye,  
these two girls would have passed for a couple of sisters. Their faces  
had very similar features, but the color of their eyes and hair were  
different, and of course, the green haired one was slightly taller that  
the blue haired one, but that wasn't important now; what was important  
was that both girls knew this was the first time they would fight a real  
battle, not like the ones in tournaments in their village, not like the  
ones with other clans like the battles Navel had endured, or the  
multiple fights with other martial artists Shampoo had gone through  
since she began to live in Japan. No, this time, they were fighting to  
finish something that started years ago between them, and they both knew  
it.

Neither of them tried to say a word. In silence, they raised their  
swords and attacked the other, and then, their deadly dance began. Their  
moves, their speed, it was all so evenly matched. Their grace of  
movement, everything about them was so perfect, so deadly beautiful.  
These two girls, they were the best of the new generation of Joketsuzoku  
warriors, and they were proud of it. Every time one of them dodged the  
other's attack, every time a sword swipe passed through the other's  
defense and cut the flesh of the other, they smiled; none of them was  
really wounded yet, their wounds were mere scratches, but still, with  
every wound, they smiled.

Shampoo. She still was trying to understand her motives to be here. She  
had been dealing with the strange voices in her head for the last two  
days. They were trying to convince her that deep inside, she was here  
because she didn't want Navel to take Mousse away from her, but she  
never listened to the voices. She was sure that the only reason to fight  
Navel was to maintain her superiority over her. And now, as she was  
giving herself fully to the battle, all that became senseless. All she  
cared about was the fight, nothing else.

Navel. Her motives for being here were crystal clear this morning; she  
was fighting for the man she loved, but now, it wasn't so clear, did she  
really love Mousse? Yes, she was convinced of it. Yet, she knew there  
was more to it. There was the fact that Mousse did not love her back,  
there was the fact that Mousse was nothing but the man who loved  
Shampoo, and he had always been. She always hoped that someday, Mousse  
would be the man who loved Navel. But she knew that would never happen.  
Still, here she was, fighting for a man who didn't love her. However,  
she still had another reason; it was superiority. Shampoo had always  
surpassed her, and she wanted that to end. That was the only real reason  
Navel was fighting, and now, as she gave herself fully to the battle,  
everything lost its meaning, only the fight was important, nothing else.

Mousse opened the doors of the Neko Hanten and he immediately knew  
something was wrong. Cologne ignored him, then, Shampoo's father came  
from the kitchen. The man stared at Mousse and then he punched him hard,  
so hard that Mousse fell backwards; he wasn't expecting this.  
"Why?" He asked.  
"And you dare to ask?" Shampoo's father shouted and tossed Mousse the  
last Joketsuzoku monthly, "Like if you didn't know it."  
Adjusting his glasses, Mousse read the front page of the newspaper and  
his face went pale. He shouted, claiming that it was all a lie, that  
Navel had framed him, but in return all he got were those reproaching  
looks from Cologne and from Shampoo's father, "It's true!" He said, "I  
don't want Navel, and you two know it!"  
Cologne gave Mousse a cold glance and finally broke the silence, "I  
can't believe you convinced me of giving this sap a chance of marrying  
my little girl." She said to Shampoo's father, "Now that he's failed,  
I'll have to work harder to bring Ranma to our village."  
For his part, Shampoo's father had changed the severe look in his face.  
He contemplated Mousse and he then realized that Mousse had changed. He  
was no longer a boy; he was now a man in his own right, just like what  
happened to the young Saotome when he returned from the battle in Mount  
Phoenix. Ranma returned a man, and that Akane girl, she returned as a  
woman. Mousse had now achieved that change, his daughter, on the other  
hand, was still a girl, she had yet to achieve what Mousse had achieved,  
and the man was sure that this new Mousse was the one who could help her  
do it; When the older man realized that, his faith on Mousse returned.

"Listen to me Mousse." Shampoo's father said, ignoring Cologne's angry  
looks, "Navel is here in Nerima, and right now, she is fighting with  
Shampoo." He made a small pause, "To the death."  
Mousse face went pale, "Shampoo is fighting Navel?" He asked truly  
alarmed, "NO! Navel is too strong for Shampoo now, she's going to kill  
her!"  
"You don't know that for sure." Cologne interrupted.  
"I do know!" Mousse shouted, "I know Shampoo's strength, and I know  
Navel's, Shampoo is so out of shape that even when the fight will seem  
even at first, in the end, Navel will win!"  
Cologne closed her eyes and considered Mousse's words, she measured  
Navel's skills, and then, Cologne compared them with Shampoo's. Her face  
showed concern; if the gap between Shampoo and Navel was minimal in the  
past, now, since Navel had continued her training like an amazon should,  
there was a big chance that she could defeat Shampoo, who had not  
trained at all in nearly a year.  
"Where are they fighting!?" Mousse demanded, "Tell me!"  
Cologne remained silent, even when she wanted Shampoo to live, her great  
granddaughter was in a duel, and it would destroy Shampoo's honor if she  
intervened. Shampoo's father, however, didn't care about honor at all,  
he grabbed Mousse's shoulders and he asked, no, he begged him to save  
his daughter, and then Mousse left the restaurant. Cologne walked to the  
Neko Hanten's door. There, she stood next to the father of her little  
girl and sighed.  
"He's changed." She said.  
"Yes, he did, but he still rushes a lot, I couldn't tell him where  
Shampoo was." The man answered.

In Furinkan's baseball court, Shampoo and Navel were still fighting, but  
in the last few minutes, Shampoo had reached her limit. Navel looked  
tired too, but not even half as tired as she was. For the blue haired  
amazon, It was getting more and more difficult to stop or to avoid  
Navel's sword, and for the first time, Shampoo considered defeat as an  
option.  
And then, it happened, Navel raised her hand and her sword crashed with  
Shampoo's, and something in Shampoo's right hand cracked, the blue  
haired amazon was forced to bite her lower lip to avoid screaming. Her  
sword landed a few steps away, but she couldn't reach for it. The pain  
distracted Shampoo and that was her worst mistake. Navel kicked her  
chest and Shampoo saw red. Still, she remained on her feet and looked  
straight into Navel's eyes, "This is not over yet." Shampoo assured.  
"I know." Navel said as she tossed her sword aside, "Come on Shampoo! No  
weapons now!"

Shampoo hurled herself at Navel. Her throat ached, as did all her body,  
but her strength of will was unmatched. In that moment, Shampoo was  
nothing but the warrior. She was ignoring the pain in her right hand;  
the pain from all the small cuts Navel's sword had done to her. Shampoo  
was determined to win, but sadly, sometimes that's not enough, and this  
was one of those times.

After blocking a few of Shampoo's kicks and punches, Navel commenced her  
own attack. She didn't need much, she just punched Shampoo's stomach  
with all her might and it was over. Shampoo fell on her knees and  
coughed. She tried to stand up again, but Navel's hand in her shoulders  
prevented her from that.  
"What happened to you?" Navel asked as she crouched and forced Shampoo  
to look at her.  
Shampoo tried to get away from Navel, but Navel's grasp on her was too  
strong, "You can laugh now." Shampoo said, "You finally took it all away  
from me, my pride, my honor...even Mousse." Shampoo hid her face in her  
good hand, "Go ahead. Kill me now."  
Navel released her grasp on Shampoo's shoulders and raised to her feet,  
"I can't do it." She whispered, "I can't do that because I lost."

Shampoo looked at Navel and she noticed that she was crying, "Why?" She  
asked.  
"You are nothing but a mere shadow of the Shampoo I used to know. You  
still have the determination to fight to the end, but you no longer have  
the will to improve your skills. You have grown soft, you have lost the  
amazon heart you once had, the one I envied so much." Navel explained,  
"And I don't have to take your pride away from you Shampoo, because you  
destroyed it a long time ago, if only half of what I've heard in our  
village about you and the things you have done to catch that Ranma are  
true, then you no longer have a pride for me to take."  
Shampoo didn't answer, she couldn't, all she felt were the tears that  
were sliding down her face.  
"Yes Shampoo, I lost." Navel continued, "I can't defeat you because  
you're nothing compared to the old Shampoo, and I can't conquer  
nothing." The green haired woman finished and wiped away her own tears,  
"I didn't want to believe it, but it's true, you are not an amazon  
anymore; I pity you Shampoo I really do."  
Shampoo tried to speak, but she couldn't, the words refused to come out.  
"I'm not giving up on Mousse though." Navel said as she walked a few  
steps away from Shampoo, who still was on her knees, "So please Shampoo,  
stay out of our way, I don't want your misery to contaminate our  
happiness." She finished and after picking up her sword, she jumped to  
the shadows.  
"IT'S NOT OVER YET!!" Shampoo shouted several minutes after Navel's  
departure, "It's not over yet, I'll show you I'm not a shadow!" She  
cried, her voice merely a whisper, her face was wet with tears, "I'm not  
a shadow! I'm not!"

When Mousse arrived to the duel place, he quickly spotted Shampoo. She  
was sitting under a light post, and she was slowly rocking her body back  
and forth. Back and forth, as if by doing it, she would find some  
comfort. Mousse adjusted his glasses, and as he approached her, he  
wondered what happened. He was in front of her now, but she didn't seem  
to notice. This somehow reminded Mousse of the first time he met  
Shampoo. She was wounded and crying just like now, and he had helped  
her. They were little kids then, but it was amazing how history repeated  
itself. He kneeled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Why are you crying?" He asked in Mandarin, trying to make his voice  
sound as sweet as possible.  
Shampoo jumped quickly to her feet; she hated to be caught out of guard  
by other people, and after all she had been through this day, this only  
added more to her dishonor. "You don't care!!" She said wiping away her  
tears.  
"Does your hand hurt?" He asked and looked at Shampoo's right hand, it  
was swollen already, from the palm to the wrist.  
"No! I don't hurt; I'm an amazon! I'm not a shadow!"  
"A shadow? I don't understand." He said.  
"Of course you don't!" Shampoo shouted and walked away from Mousse, "You  
never understand, you are too stupid for that!" But a few steps later,  
her strength abandoned her and she fell on her butt.  
Mousse kneeled beside her and tried to help her up, but she pushed him  
away, "Leave me alone Mousse, I'm not in the mood to talk to you."  
"Shampoo, I'm not stupid, and I'm going to help you, I always help you  
when I'm around, don't I?" Mousse replied  
"Not true." Shampoo said as a tear ran through her face (Great, now I'm  
crying.) "You could have come earlier, where were you? Were you with  
Navel?" She asked, too weak to try to do something else that wasn't  
talking, "Is that the reason why you weren't here sooner?"  
"No! Your father didn't tell me where you were! I had to find you by  
myself."  
Shampoo smiled as she thought Mousse was joking, but then she frowned,  
"Liar, I know that you and Navel are together, I saw the newspaper."  
Shampoo answered closing her eyes, "Go with her! I'm sure you don't want  
to waste your time with a shadow."  
Mousse blinked, "Shampoo, I'm not going with her, I'm staying with you,  
I'll always stay with you."  
Shampoo looked to the ground and then, she felt angry at Mousse. Who was  
he to worry so much for her? Why was he always doing this? Could it be  
true that he loved her? Or was she only a prize for him? She decided  
that she didn't want to know. She felt enough pain already to worry  
about that, and she suddenly wished for Mousse to disappear, "Stop lying  
to me Mousse!" She said, "A shadow like me deserves to be alone."

"Cut that out!" Mousse shouted and grabbed Shampoo by the shoulders,  
"You are not a shadow! Why are you saying that?"  
"Because it's true!" Shampoo yelled, "I've lost all that made me an  
amazon! I've lost myself for nothing!" But was that true? Shampoo knew  
that all the things Navel said were partially true, she changed because  
of Ranma; she had tried to be a different woman for him, and it didn't  
work. She had practically thrown herself at him several times, but that  
didn't work either. She even tried to emulate Akane in some things, but  
that never worked. In the end, she always ended up feeling more and more  
lonely. She had tried to be strong and always look cheerful in front of  
Ranma, but he ignored her, and those times when she had watched from the  
distance the way Ranma looked Akane when she was distracted, that always  
hurt, and it made her feel lonely; those were the times she used to beat  
Mousse the most. It was her way to fight stress, and suddenly, for the  
first time since she got engaged to Ranma, she wondered if she was  
chasing him because of love. She loved Ranma, didn't she? (Why am I  
thinking this now?) Ranma was strong, brave, he never lost a fight and  
he was handsome (Mousse is handsome too, and he never gives up either.)  
Yeah, Mousse. He was always there. Ever since she was a child, Mousse  
had been there. Offering her his unconditional affection, and she always  
rejected him, because he would always be there. No matter how many times  
she rejected him, Mousse would always be there. (And it's good to know  
that he's always there, right?) But now, Navel was trying to take Mousse  
away. Maybe she deserved it. How could she expect Mousse to be there for  
her forever if she treated him like garbage every time? Maybe she should  
stop playing with Mousse and let him go with Navel, (But if I do that, I  
will be alone! I will be a real shadow!) Shampoo decided that it was the  
best, letting Mousse go; she would survive, somehow, "Mousse..." She  
called, "Go with Navel, I...I don't want to see you anymore."

Mousse blinked and swallowed, "No. Even if you don't want to see me, you  
need help, so I'm staying."  
Shampoo looked at him and smiled slightly, "Idiot." She said, "You're an  
idiot, why are you staying with me? I've never given you a reason to do  
so, and don't tell me it's all because you love me because I know you  
don't!"  
That was a shock, Mousse was sure that Shampoo knew how he felt, but  
this, what was she trying to say? "Shampoo, there is no other reason, I  
love you and that's why I do the things I do."  
When she heard Mousse's answer, Shampoo's left hand turned into a fist,  
and before she knew it, she was punching his chest, over and over and  
over, "Stop saying that! I hate you when you say that!" She shouted and  
snatched Mousse's glasses, then, with a growl, she tossed them to the  
ground and the glasses broke in thousands of little pieces that shined  
in the dim light, "There! Now you can't see me Mousse, and you can't  
love what you can't see!" Shampoo yelled, "Go hug a tree!"

To her surprise, Mousse moved towards her and he did what she said, he  
hugged...her, "I don't need to see you to love you Shampoo." Mousse said  
as he embraced her, "I can smell your hair. I can smell your tears. I  
can hear you breathing. I can hear your heart, and I can feel your body  
Shampoo, how warm it is and how is trembling right now in my arms. I  
don't need my eyes to love all those things Shampoo, don't you  
understand? I love you like no one else can, and right now, I don't care  
if that's not enough for you."  
"Mousse...I..." Shampoo began, but she was suddenly lost in Mousse's  
arms, she felt so safe, so at peace, it was a sensation she didn't feel  
often, "I don't know what to say."  
"Then don't say anything." Mousse answered and moved his right hand; a  
flask appeared on it, "Shampoo, close you eyes, I have something for  
you."  
She shook her head and looked at him, "No, if I do that, you'll ruin  
this moment."  
Mousse smiled and softly pushed Shampoo away a little.  
"Why?" She asked, fearing that he was really leaving her.

"Be free Shampoo." Mousse said and poured the water on her head.  
Shampoo's body shook when she felt the cold water running down her face  
and neck, "It's cold!" She exclaimed, then her eyes widened, she looked  
at her hands and her lips trembled in disbelief, "What...what have you  
done?" She asked.  
"Isn't it obvious? I released you from your curse." He explained, "I  
went to Jusenkyo when I was in China."  
Shampoo was confused, she didn't know what to do or what to think, "Are  
you...cured too?" she asked after a few minutes of staring at him.  
"Yes, I am cured too." He said smiling, "We're both free." Mousse  
finished and hugged Shampoo again. This time, she hugged him too.  
"Thank you Mousse. This is one of the best things someone has ever done  
for me." Shampoo said and looked at him, she couldn't help but smile.  
"Good, you're smiling again." He stated and leaned his head over hers,  
"Are you happy now?" Mousse asked.  
"Yes, I am." Shampoo answered closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling  
of safety Mousse provided her (Now, why am I doing this?) maybe keeping  
Mousse around was not so bad, maybe it was the right thing to do.  
Mousse was about to burst, he was holding Shampoo in his arms and she  
was happy about it! Then he whispered her name, he had to try and see  
her, and when she looked up at him, he could see the traces of her face,  
the glow in her eyes and her smile, they gave him the courage he needed,  
holding his breath, Mousse closed his eyes and moved forward.

When Shampoo noticed that Mousse was trying to kiss her, her first  
reaction was to try and punch him, but she was too tired to do that, and  
soon, the old, buried sensations from the time they almost kissed at the  
town square in Joketsuzoku came back to her. She was feeling like that  
time again; her whole body denied to obey her and just like then, her  
face was moving slowly to the side so Mousse could kiss her easily. Her  
lips where partially open and she could feel the same warmth coming from  
him, only that this time, it was stronger. Shampoo gave up and also  
moved forward, she remembered how frustrated she was when Ran Ran and  
Lin Lin interrupted them almost four years ago. How much she had wanted  
to know how would she feel if she kissed Mousse and now, she was  
finally going to know. The face of Ranma appeared, but vanished  
immediately. Ranma couldn't make her feel what she was feeling now in  
Mousse's arms, sharing his warmth, sharing this feeling.

Shampoo felt that one of Mousse's hands was kindly caressing her face  
and then, she felt the first soft contact of his lips; they were barely  
touching hers, as if asking permission to keep going. That kind gesture  
was enough to send shivers all over her body. Shampoo closed her eyes as  
she completed the kiss. She abandoned herself to these new sensations,  
all the times she had kissed Ranma, she had tried to feel something  
special, but the tiny sensations she felt when kissing him were nothing  
compared to this. Shampoo couldn't explain all these feelings and she  
didn't try, she allowed them to take her away, far away, to a place she  
never imagined that could exist, a place where she was safe, it was all  
so perfect that she hoped it would never end...

"I think that would be enough for today."  
When Mousse heard the voice, he broke the kiss slowly. He was enjoying  
it too much to finish it abruptly, and he knew, by Shampoo's response,  
that she didn't want the kiss to end in that way either. When they  
finished, they found Cologne standing at their left.  
"I never imagined this would happen." She said, "Take Shampoo to the  
Neko Hanten, she needs rest and we have to talk, you and I." Cologne  
ordered Mousse, "I'll be waiting." The old amazon finished and walked  
out of the baseball court.

"Mousse."  
"Yes Shampoo?"  
"What are we going to do now?" She asked her arms still around Mousse's  
waist.  
"I don't know yet." He answered and hugged her again, "But I'm sure all  
we need is to believe in each other."  
Shampoo looked up at him, "To believe in each other?"  
"Yes."  
She kept staring at him.  
"Is something wrong?" Mousse asked.  
"You want me to believe in you?"  
"Of course I do!"  
"Then look at my eyes and tell me that all the things Navel said were  
lies, you can do that, don't you?" She asked.  
Mousse looked at her and blinked, "What did she say? Did she say  
something about China?"  
"What happened in China!?" Shampoo asked frowning.  
"Nothing! I swear!"  
"You're lying!" Shampoo shouted.  
"I'm not! I swear that nothing happened! Honest!"  
"And what about the kiss in the cave!?"  
"Cave? Navel told you about that?" Mousse asked nervously.  
"See? And you dare to say that nothing happened!?" Shampoo yelled, her  
battle aura glowing much like Akane's.  
"Nothing happened in the cave Shampoo! Please believe in me!" Mousse  
pleaded as he sweat dropped, he was now sure that he had chosen the  
wrong words to say to Shampoo. "Navel was lying! You know how she is!"  
"YOU BIG LIAR!" Shampoo shouted, and getting strength from...somewhere,  
she managed to punch Mousse all the way to the stratosphere, "AND DON'T  
COME BACK UNTIL YOU CAN LOOK AT MY EYES, YOU TWO TIMER SLUG!!" She  
yelled.

"That certainly didn't go as I expected." Shampoo's father thought in  
his hiding place, "Oh well, they're now in the right direction." He  
muttered and lighted a cigarette. The man was convinced that his  
daughter and Mousse were perfect for each other. They would realize it  
sooner of later. It was, after all, just a matter of time.

**END**

And with this, the story is finished. C&C are most welcome.

I want to give special thanks to a very special friend:

Greta, thank you for your support and friendship, this fanfic is for  
you.

Facer.


End file.

Ranma, Adventure, Romance